
Class h°\^Q 



Book-^. 



Kl\l. a. 



' ? Wo6s 



t*f~ 1 o 



THE 



BEAUTIES OF THE BOYNE, 



AJS T D ITS TRIBUTARY, 



THE BLACK WATER 



WILLIAM R. WILDE. 




DUBLIN: 
JAMES M C GLASHAN, 21 D'OLIER-STREET. 

WILLIAM S. ORR AND CO., LONDON AND LIVERPOOL. 
MDCCCXLIX. 



h 



DUBLIN : 

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 

BY M. H, GILL. 






TO 

GEOEGE PETEIE, LL.D,, M.R.I. A., 

Whose Learning and critical Research have placed the Archaeology of 

this Country on a philosophic Basis, 

And "by -whose Pencil its Scenery and Antiquities have "been so 

happily Illustrated , 

AND TO 

JOHN O'DONOYAN, M.E.I. A., 

PROFESSOR OF THE IRISH LANGUAGE IN QTJEEN's COLLEGE, BELFAST, 

The Irish Historian of the Nineteenth Century, 

Wtf& 13ook, 

The Composition of which their lahours have so much facilitated, 

IS DEDICATED, 

In Testimony of public Respect, and private Affection, 
By their Friend, 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 



The materials for this book were collected during excursions, 
made from time to time, to theBoyne, for health, amusement, or 
instruction. With a desire to illustrate some of the scenery and 
antiquities of our native land, fragments of the original rough 
sketches were published in the Dublin University Magazine, 
among the series of "Irish Rivers," now appearing in that 
periodical. Although the space allotted to such subjects in a 
serial did not permit of lengthened descriptions of any of the 
places of note which fringe this river's banks, the interest which 
had been awakened by those rapid sketches of the Beauties of 
the Boyne, was such as to induce the Publisher to request that 
I would again visit the great river of Meath, make further 
observations, collect additional information, include the Black- 
water, and publish the materials thus obtained, in the form of 
an illustrated Hand-book for these charming but hitherto 
neglected streams. 

It may be regarded as a boast, but it is nevertheless incon- 
trovertibly true, that the greatest amount of authentic Celtic 
history in the world, at present, is to be found in Ireland ; 
nay more, we believe it cannot be gainsaid that no country 
in Europe, except the early kingdoms of Greece and Rome, 
possesses so much ancient written history as Ireland. It 
is, however, generally speaking, unknown ; heretofore it has 
neither been appreciated nor understood ; until very lately the 



VI PREFACE. 

great mass of Irish historic manuscripts was scattered and inac- 
cessible. Many of these have, within the last few years, been 
collected together, and several have been translated and pub- 
lished ; others are in course of publication, but in forms which 
(though no doubt the very best) are not within reach of the 
general reader, neither would they be always understood or 
valued by such. To popularize these — to render my country- 
men familiar with facts and names in Irish history — has been 
one of the objects I have had in view in the historic portion 
of this work. Materials for books of this description are now 
so abundant that the chief difficulty is in selection. 

Throughout the following pages I have alluded to the want of 
a correct Irish history, and the neglect of such histories of our 
country as we possess. I would here again (because I do not 
think it can be done too often) revert to this subject. The Board 
of National Education, — with whose scheme of instruction, so 
far as it goes, I agree, and many of whose books I very much 
admire, — while they teach the history of Kamtschatka, and the 
geography of the Andes, never once allude, in their system of 
education, to the national history of the people they are em- 
ployed to teach. Nor need this be wondered at, when I 
mention the fact that an eminent publisher of my acquaintance 
having, some few years ago, in the issue of a popular, and, to 
my mind, a very unprejudiced abridgment of Irish history, 
written a circular to the different schoolmasters in Ireland, 
calling their attention to this little work, was answered by some 
of those who deigned to honour him with a reply, that the time 
devoted by their pupils to the study of history of any kind 
was barely sufficient for those of Greece, Eome, and England ! 
How long will parents and guardians submit to this ? That 
Irish history is looked upon as a fable by many ignorant 
persons is not surprising ; but that the ordinarily educated — 



PREFACE. Vll 

and, above all, that the learned of any country — should be 
unacquainted with the materials of our Irish history, is a la- 
mentable fact, and shows either want of knowledge, or utter 
indifference to the subject. 

I was forcibly reminded of this a short time ago, in casting 
my eyes over that very beautiful book, Macaulay's "Lays 
of Ancient Rome," in the preface to which, when speaking 
of the early literature and metrical romances on which the 
history of most nations is founded, the great modern his- 
torian very justly says : "A man who can invent or embel- 
lish an interesting story, and put it into a form which others 
may easily retain in their recollection, will always be highly 
esteemed by a people eager for amusement and information, 
but destitute of libraries. Such is the origin of ballad poetry, — 
a species of composition which scarcely ever fails to spring 
up and flourish in every society, at a certain point in the 
progress towards refinement. Tacitus informs us that songs 
were the only memorials of the past which the ancient Ger- 
mans possessed." And so the author passes in review the early 
" poetic literature" and " ancient lays" of the various nations of 
the earth ; the Gauls, the primitive Teutonic and Celtic races 
of the European continent, the Danes and Anglo-Saxons, the 
Welsh and Scottish Highlanders, the Servians and Peru- 
vians, the people of Persia and Turkomania, the Sandwich 
Islanders, the Etruscans and Castilians, the ancient Greeks, 
and even the inhabitants of Central Africa, whose bards have 
sung, and whose traditions have perpetuated the story of their 
early history ; — all, except that of the neighbouring island, Ire- 
land, are deemed worthy of a place in the preface of the English 
statesman and historian. 

But worse than this, the last historian who has attempted 
to compile and arrange the annals of our country knew little 



Vlll PREFACE. 

or nothing of those rich sources of knowledge in the ancient 
Gaelic manuscripts from which alone our history can be ob- 
tained. Thus remarks Mr. O'Donovan, in his preface to The 
Battle of Magh-Eath, which, with the name of the monarch 
who fought it, is not even once alluded to in Moore's History 
of Ireland: " Mr. Moore is confessedly unacquainted with the 
Irish language; and the remains of our ancient literature were, 
therefore, of course inaccessible to him. That great ignorance 
of these unexplored sources of Irish history should be found 
in his pages is, therefore, not surprising ; but he ought to have 
been more conscious of his deficiencies in this respect than to 
have so boldly hazarded the unqualified assertion that there 
exist in the Irish annals no materials for the civil history of 
the country." 

The scientific as well as the literary and archaeological cha- 
racter of our country has not stood still of late years ; our Uni- 
versity and our schools of medicine have borne an honourable 
part in the advance of astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. 
Three new colleges have been lately established. The great- 
est telescope, the most scientific magnetic observatory, and 
the first atmospheric railway, were constructed in Ireland. 
A survey, the most accurate in its details, and the most ex- 
tensive in its objects, that any country in Europe has yet been 
submitted to, has just been completed; and the last enumera- 
tion of the people has been, with justice, pronounced by the 
London Statistical Society, " a model for a Census." Unfor- 
tunately for the country, either from the indifference of minis- 
ters, the unjust economy which the English Exchequer has 
ever pursued towards Ireland, or from mismanagement at home, 

perhaps from a little of each or all, — the memoirs of the 

Irish Ordnance Survey have— I would hope only for the pre- 
sent—been abandoned. I would go further, and say, that 



PREFACE. IX 

as the materials which have been collected for them are the pro- 
perty of the country, and are a necessary portion of her his- 
tory, they must some day, sooner or later, meet the light ; 
and yet — can it be believed ? — an endeavour was made not long 
since to remove these records to Southampton ! I need only 
refer to the memoir on Templemore, as a specimen of what 
these county histories would be. 

The Board of Works has of late done good service, parti- 
cularly to the inland navigation of the country ; and our agri- 
cultural and industrial resources have also, within the last few 
years, received an impulse which we would ardently antici- 
pate may be both permanent and extensive. 

In the last ten or fifteen years much has been done to develope 
the literary resources of this country. The Eoyal Irish Aca- 
demy, the old chartered patron of Irish literature and anti- 
quities, has awoke from the apathetic slumber in which it 
remained during the early part of this century, when papers 
and communications were admitted into its Transactions, of 
which, some were not founded on fact, and others, by the 
crude and fanciful theories of their authors, brought upon us 
the ridicule of other European nations ; while, at the same 
time, it permitted some of our oldest and best records, and 
most valuable antiquities, to pass into another country. Of 
late, however, a zeal and an enthusiasm, and, we would hope, 
a nationality, unparalleled in the history of any other Irish 
institution, has been infused amongst its members and its 
council, and it has amply redeemed its past indifference, 
by creating a museum of Celtic and early Christian antiqui- 
ties, unexampled in the British isles, and only surpassed 
(if it be surpassed) by that of Copenhagen, which is, how- 
ever, inferior to our's in this respect, that the same historic 
references do not exist there with regard either to the Pagan 



X PREFACE. 

or Christian antiquities, but particularly the latter, which are 
also less numerous and interesting. And although the Pagan 
antiquities at Copenhagen are much more numerous than our's, 
it does not appear that the types of form or structure are 
much more diversified than those which the museum of the 
Irish Academy possesses. Why has the catalogue of this, our 
national collection, been so long delayed ? Why is not each new 
specimen of interest figured in the Proceedings of the Academy, 
and its description thus widely distributed among the public ? 
We know that many valuable acquisitions have been gained by 
visiters calling accidentally at the museum ; many more would, 
we feel convinced, find their way into this collection, if some 
general and popular means existed of giving an account of 
those which are there already. The miserable pittance which 
is doled out to this noble institution by Parliament may 
be urged as a reason against this project; but, while we 
acknowledge the full effect of all this, we would suggest that 
wood-engraving, which is quite applicable to all purposes of 
antiquarian delineation, and is now remarkably cheap, should 
be extensively employed ; and as most of the antiquities have 
already been drawn at the expense of the Academy, even 
fifty pounds a year would do much towards illustrating 
them. By Dr. Petrie's great work upon the Ecclesiastical 
Architecture and Eound Towers of Ireland, the Academy has 
widely extended its fame, and the first great impetus has been 
given to the true eclectic investigation of Irish history and 
antiquities. But not by deep archaeological research alone, but 
by his popular sketches in the Penny Journals, has Dr. Petrie 
generated a taste, and created a school of Irish Archaeology. 
He should have written this book ; his profound knowledge of 
Irish history and antiquities, — his intimate acquaintance with 
the subject on which it treats, — his graphic powers of descrip- 



PREFACE. XI 

tion, and his surpassing abilities as an artist, all combine to ren- 
der him better suited for the task than any other man living. 
Because he has not done so I have ventured, sed longo intervallo, 
to describe the scenery presented along the Boyne and the 
Blackwater, to direct public attention to their antiquarian re- 
mains, and to popularize their annals and history. 

We have lately had a proof of the growing interest which is 
taken in the antiquarian department of our Academy, not only 
by our own, but by other nations. The Danish government 
sent over a gentleman of distinguished merit, great shrewdness 
of observation, and most captivating manners, to investigate 
and report upon our collection, With a becoming spirit of 
liberality, the Academy presented to the Royal Society of 
Northern Antiquaries, through Mr. Worsaae, to whom I have 
just alluded, a splendid series of drawings, illustrative of our 
finest antiquities, and also several specimens of the antiquities 
themselves, of which duplicates existed. In return, that learned 
body have lately presented a collection of Danish antiquities 
to the Academy. This is, I believe, the first instance of good 
feeling between the Irish and the Danes which our annalists 
have as yet been able to record. 

In the historic department, the Irish Archasological Society 
has done more to elucidate the annals and records of our coun- 
try than had been effected for the century previous. Private 
individuals and enterprising publishers are likewise engaged 
in this good work. The publication of the Annals of the Four 
Masters by Messrs. Hodges and Smith, is the greatest acquisition 
ever made to Irish history. The Celtic Society also promises 
well in this department of research. We are, moreover, happy 
to find that this body does not consider itself a mere tran- 
scriber, translator, and commentator on the written labours 
of the past ; but has also constituted itself a conservator of 
those monuments and architectural remains which the Van- 



Xll PREFACE. 

dalism of modern commissioners — some of whom possess little 
knowledge of, and less taste and interest in, those relics that 
teach the antiquary, mark the historic era, or adorn the land- 
scapes of our native land — would destroy. 

The nonsensical fancies of Vallancey and his school of ima- 
ginary antiquaries have long since been dispelled by the la- 
bours ofPetrie, O'Donovan, Hardiman, Todd, Eugene Curry, 
Reeves, Graves, and other modern investigators. 

Strangers even who lately visited our soil have become in- 
fected by the general feeling of enthusiasm which has per- 
vaded all classes and parties, and have ably and generously 
devoted the pages of their periodicals to Irish history and an- 
tiquities.* 

Her Majesty Queen Victoria, with her illustrious consort, 
has just visited this portion of her dominions, and by their 
coming amongst us, have done more to put down disaffection, 
and elicit the loyal feelings and affections of the Irish people, 
than armies thousands strong, fierce general officers, trading 
politicians, newspaper writers, and suspension of the Habeas 
Corpus Act, &c. &c. Let us hope that her welcome visit will 
be soon repeated. 

I have now but to express my obligations to those kind 
friends who have assisted me in the compilation of the historic 
and antiquarian portion of this work. First, to my excel- 
lent friend, John O'Donovan, — whose labours in the cause of 
Irish Archeology are already so well known to the learned in 
Great Britain, and which are so frequently referred to in this 
book, that it seems scarcely necessary to allude to them here ; 
— who has assisted me largely, and devoted much time and at- 
tention in the revision of proofs, and in pointing out the sources 

* See the Historical Tableaux, in numbers 160 and 162 of Chambers's 
Edinburgh Journal for 1847. 



PREFACE. Xlll 

from which I might gain illustrative materials. I know no man 
possessing the same amount of knowledge, gleaned with the 
same labour and research, who is more liberal of it than Mr. 
O'Donovan, and to this every one who has been engaged, either 
in strict archaeological research, or, like myself, in popularizing 
our history, must bear testimony. 

The Very Eeverend Eichard Butler, Dean of Clonmacnoise, 
has also placed me, as regards this work, under many obliga- 
tions. His long residence at Trim, of which he has become 
the historian, and his intimate acquaintance with the ancient 
history of the county of Meath, render him better fitted for the 
task of a critic upon a book treating of the Boyne, than any 
other living antiquary; and in the same generous manner as 
Mr. O'Donovan, he has always assisted those who require the 
aid of his matured judgment and extensive reading. 

I have to express my obligations to my friend George Smith, 
the enterprising publisher of so many works connected with 
the history of Ireland, for permission to examine and extract 
from the early portion of that part of the Annals of the Four 
Masters now in course of translation by Mr. O'Donovan. In 
the most" generous manner he placed (with the Editor's per- 
mission) the unpublished sheets of that great work at my dis- 
posal. 

In writing the original sketches of the Boyne, which ap- 
peared in the Dublin University Magazine, I derived many va- 
luable hints from my learned friend, Mr. Eugene Curry. 

Indeed, without the assistance of so many generous as well 
as learned friends, I could not have produced this work in its 
present form. I do not profess to be an antiquary or an his- 
torian ; other avocations of a professional nature occupy more 
of my time than the acquirement of strict and exact archaeo- 
logical knowledge would permit ; but I have endeavoured, 



XIV PREFACE. 

with the assistance of my friends, and by means of such sources 
of information as were readily at hand, while I popularized our 
history and sketched our scenery (chiefly as a source of health- 
ful relaxation from more fatiguing pursuits) to present nothing 
to the reader that was not strictly true. Had more time been 
devoted to the subject, this might, perhaps, have been made a 
better book, but we doubt whether it would be more suitable 
for the purpose for which it is intended. 

With the exception of the illustration upon the first page 
and the woodcut at page 67, which were drawn by Mr. Grey, 
and the drawings by Mr. Connolly, engraved at pages 38, 40, 
and 195, all the illustrations of this work have been sketched, 
and afterwards drawn on wood by Mr. Wakeman, who is al- 
ready so favourably known, both as an artist and an antiquary, 
by his useful Handbook of Irish Antiquities, and who combines 
great artistic skill with a peculiar knowledge of the salient 
points of the antiquities or ruins he may be engaged in illus- 
trating. I am likewise indebted to Mr. Wakeman for much 
local information, which his residence on the bank of the 
Boyne for the last two years enabled him to collect. 

Mr. Hanlon, the wood-engraver, has also borne no inconsi- 
derable part in the illustrations of the Beauties of the Boyne ; 
and I cannot but congratulate Mr. Gill upon the admirable 
manner in which the work has been printed, — printed, more- 
over, within the short space of one month. 

And last, though not least, whatever pleasure or profit the 
fireside reader or the tourist may derive from the perusal of 
this little book, is chiefly due to the enterprise of its spirited 
publisher, Mr. M c Glashan. 



21, Westland-Row, 
August, 1849. 



CONTENTS, 



Page, 
Itinerary, xxi 

CHAPTER I. 

THE RIVER'S SOURCE AND HISTORY. 

Introduction — The Beaiities of the Boyne ; its Scenery and Historic Inte- 
rest ; its Archaeological Remains — Description of the ancient Kingdom 
of Meath ; its History and Topography — The Plains of Breghia — 
The English Conquest — Dearvorgail, the Helen of the Irish Iliad — 
The Pale — Geographical Description of the River — The Source, Origin, 
and Derivation of the Boyne — Trinity Well ; its Legends and Antiqui- 
ties — The Stoiy of Boan and Dabella, 1 

CHAPTER II. 

FROM CARBURY TO CLONARD. 

Carbury ; its ancient History, Hill, and Castle — Genealogy of the Duke 
of Wellington — The Boyne's Progress through the King's County — 
Edenderry — Ruins of Monasteroris — The Berminghams — Alteration of 
English into Irish Names — Return to Kildare — Kinnafad Castle — A 
Battle-field ; the Men vrho fought there, and their Weapons — Grange 
—The Hill of Carrick; its Church, Well, and Castle— View of the 
Plains of Leinster — Toberaulin — Lady Well — Irish Holy Wells — Bal- 
ly bogan ; its Church and Priory, 27 



XVI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 



CLONARD, AND THE BOYNE TO TRIM. 

' Page. 
Clonard — Descriptions of Csesar Otway — The Battle of 1798 — Ancient 
Seat of Learning — History of St. Finian — The Abbey, Monastery, and 
Round Tower — Disasters and Desecrations, ancient and modern — An- 
tique Font and Lavatory — Recovery of an Ecclesiastical Stoup — The 
Pagan Remains at Clonard — The Moat and Fort ; Speculations on their 
Origin and Uses— The Battle-field of Rathcore— The Battle of Bolg- 
Boinne — Ticroghan — Donore Castle — The Boyne to Trim — Trimbles- 
town, 55 



CHAPTER IV. 



Trim ; First Impressions ; History, ancient and modern ; Accommodation ; 
Origin and Foundation — St. Mary's Abbey and Yellow Tower — Geof- 
frey De Geneville — Military Buildings — The Early Irish Castles — The 
Saxon, who ? — Death of Hugh De Lacy — The present Castle of Trim ; 
its Chapel and Mint — Talbot's Castle — The early Residence of the Duke 
of Wellington — Laracor, Swift, and Stella — Newtown ; its Abbey, 
Tombs, and Ruins. — Monastic Castle and Priory of St. John, ... 79 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM TRIM TO NAVAN. 

Scurlogstown ; its Tumulus, Church, and Castle— Trubly— Bective Ab- 
bey—Interment of Hugh De Lacy— Clady ; its Subterranean Cham- 
bers, Church, and ancient Foot-Bridge— The House of Cletty— Ri- 
verstown Castle — Tara ; its History and Associations ; its Topography 
— Raths— The Lia-Fail— Skreen— Hymn of St. Patrick— Ardsallagh 
—St. Bridget's Well— Kilcarn Font— Athlumney Castle ; its last Oc- 
cupant — Navan ; recent Discoveries there, 103 



CONTENTS. xvii 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BLACK WATER. 

Page. 
General View of the Blackwater of Meath ; Origin of its Name — St. Pa- 
trick's Curse — The River's Source at Lough Ramor — Virginia — St. 
Kieran's Well, Church, and Crosses — Square Forts — Hill of Lloyd — 
Kells ; its Early History — House of St. Columbkill — Round Tower 
— The Cross — Annals of Kells— Headford — Tailtean, one of the an- 
cient Seats of Monarchy ; its early History ; its Games, Battles, Fairs, 
and Marriages — The present Appearance of Teltown ; its Hill, Raths, 
and Legends — St. Patrick and King Loeghaire — Donaghpatrick ; its 
History ; the Moat and Churchyard — The Church and Castle of Lis- 
carton — Rathaldron; its Castle — Monumental Cross of Nevinstown, . 136 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE BOYNE FROM NAVAN TO SLANE. 

Donaghmore Round Tower — Blackcastle — Babes' Bridge — Ardmulchan 
— Dunmoe — Stackallan Bridge — Castle Dexter — Beauparc — Fennor — 
Slane Castle— The Hermitage of St. Ere— View from the Hill of 
Slane — The arrival of St. Patrick — Name and Origin of Slane — Ferta- 
Fear-Feig — The Monastic and Ecclesiastical Ruins — An ancient Tomb, 159 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ROYAL CEMETERY OF BRUGH-NA-BOINNE. 

The Senchas-na-Relic — Brugh-na-Boinne — The Interment of King Cor- 
mac — Ros-na-Righ — Kncwth — The Tumulus of New Grange ; its En- 
trance, Passage, and Chamber — Crypts in the Interior — Antique 
Carvings — Ancient History of this Mound — Dowth — Recent Exami- 
nation of its Interior — Description of its Chambers and Passages — 

-Cloghlea— Netterville, 184 

b 



XV111 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE ETHNOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT IRISH. 

Page. 
Modes and Means of studying Ethnology — Who are the Irish? — Historic 
Eeferences — What Remains of the original Stock exist —The Celts — 
The Firbolgs — TheTuatha De Danaan — Early Irish Forms of Burial — 
Tumuli, and their Contents — Cromlechs — Kistvaens — Sepulchral Urns 
— Incineration — Scandinavian Researches — Crania of the ancient Irish 
— Battle-fields — Advice to Tomb-Openers, . 212 

CHAPTER X. 

THE BATTLE-FIELD OF OLDBRIDGE DROGHEDA. 

The Boyne in Louth — The Campaign of 1690 — Description of the Battle- 
field of Oldbridge — Position of the Irish Army — The Hill of Donore 
— Position of the English Army — The King's Glen — Plan of the Bat- 
tle of the First of July—Wounding of King William— The Battle of 
Rossnaree — Turning of the left Wing of the Irish Army — The Passage 
of the Boyne — Death of Schomberg — The Fight upon Donore — The 
Retreat to Duleek — What Effects have followed — New Ballad of the 
Boyne Water — Drogheda ; its early History ; its Antiquities ; its 
Walls — St. Laurence's and the West Gate — St. Mary's Church — The 
Magdalen Steeple — The Mouth of the Boyne — Colpe — The Maiden 
Tower, 241 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

1. Bird's-eye View of the River Boyne, 1 

2. Carbury Castle, 27 

3. The Ruins of Monasteroris, 35 

4. Kinnafad Castle, 37 

5. Antiquities found in the Boyne at the Pass of Kinnafad, 38 

6. Skulls found in the same Locality, 40 

7. The Church and Castle of Carrick-Oris, 43 

8. Ballybogan Priory Church, 51 

9. The ancient Font of Clonard, 64 

10. Antique Vessel found at Clonard, 67 

11. The Mound of Clonard, 68 

12. The Castle of Donore, 77 

13. The Yellow Steeple and Sheep-Gate of Trim, 84 

14. The Castle of Trim, 94 

15. Monastic Ruins at Newtown Trim, . 99 

16. The Dillon Monument at Newtown, 100 

17. Scurlogstown Castle, 104 

18. Bective Abbey, 108 

19. The Cloisters at Bective, Ill 

20. The ancient Bridge and Church of Clady, 113 

21. The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny at Tara, 124 

22. Cannistown Church — Choir Arch, 129 

23. Ancient Font at Kilcarn, 130 

24. Sculptures on Kilcarn Font, 131 

25. Ditto, ditto, ib. 

26. Athlumney Castle, 132 

27. St. Kieran's Cross at Castle Kieran, 139 

28. St. Kieran's Well and Tree, 141 

29. St. Columbkill's House at Kells, 144 

30. Window in ditto, 145 

31. The Round Tower of Kells, 146 

32. The Great Cross of Kells, 148 

33. Liscarton Castle, 156 

34. Donaghmore Church and Tower, 160 

35. Sculpture over Door of Donaghmore Round Tower, 162 

36. Sculptured Stone at Ardmulchan Church, 165 



XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

37. Dunmoe Castle, with the Boyne and Mill, &c 167 

38. Castle Dexter, 173 

39. Slane Castle, 174 

40. The Hermitage of St. Ere, at Slane, 175 

41. Eemains of sculptured Tomb at ditto, ib. 

42. The Ecclesiastical Ruins at Slane, 178 

43. Ancient gable-shaped Tomb at Slane, 182 

44. The Mound of New Grange, 189 

45. Pillar-stones in the Circle of New Grange, 190 

46. The Entrance of New Grange, with its sculptured Stones, . . . . 192 

47. Sculptured Stone at Mouth of New Grange Cave, 193 

48. One of the upright Groove Stones in the Passage of New Grange, . 194 

49. The eastern Recess in the Chamber of New Grange, 195 

50. Illustrations of the spiral Carvings at New Grange, 197 

51. the lozenge-shaped Carvings at New Grange, . . 198 

52. the oval and semicircular Carvings at New Grange, . ib. 

53. the zig-zag Carvings at New Grange, 199 

54. the supposed Writing at New Grange, ib. 

55. the Fern-shaped Carving at New Grange, .... 200 

56. The double Basin, or shallow Stone Sarcophagus, 201 

57. The single Basin in the Western Crypt, ib. 

58. The Mound of Dowth prior to the recent Excavation, 204 

59. The Entrance to the Passage at Dowth, 206 

60. Carvings on the Stones at Dowth, . 207 

61. One of the Pillar- Stones at Brugh-na-Boinne, 210 

62. Remains of a Stone Circle at Cloghlea, 211 

63. Globular Scandinavian Skull, 226 

64. Elongated ditto, 227 

65. Skull of the long-headed Irish Race, 229 

66. Skull of the round-headed Irish Race, 232 

67. Skull of St. Donatus, 236 

68. The Obelisk on the Battle-field of the Boyne, 241 

69. St. Lawrence's Gate, Drogheda, 259 

70. The West Gate, Drogheda, 260 

71. Ruins of St. Mary's Church, Drogheda, 260 

72. The Magdalen Steeple, Drogheda, 262 

73. The Maiden Tower and Finger, 263 



TO THE BINDER. 



74. Plan of the Battle of the Boyne, To face page 248 

75. Map of the Boyne and Blackwater, At the end. 



ITINERARY. 



The folio-wing directions with respect to the best mode of seeing the beauties 
of the Blackwater and Boyne will be found useful to the tourist. 

The River Boyne may be visited, and its various objects of interest examined, 
comfortably, in three days. The Blackwater will require a fourth ; and a distinct 
route from Navan to Virginia, along its banks, is given at p. xxiii of this Itine- 
rary. As railways now approach the river at three different points, — at Enfield, 
Navan, and Drogheda, — tourists can return to Dublin, if they wish, each 
night, or, proceeding continuously down the river, they can divide the journey 
into three portions, sleeping the first night at Trim, the second at Slane, and 
the third at Dublin, as neither Navan nor Drogheda as yet present the very 
best accommodation. 

The most ready mode of access to the Boyne's source, at Carbery, in the 
county of Kildare, is to proceed from the Broadstone, Dublin, in one of the 
early morning trains which starts by the Midland Great Western Railway, to 
Enfield, which can be reached in about an hour and a half. Here outside 
jaunting-cars can be hired at the rate of sixpence per mile for two persons, or 
one can be hired for the day, or by the job. From seven shillings and six- 
pence to ten shillings per day, with a douceur to the driver, will generally 
satisfy, but in every instance a special bargain should be made with the car- 
man before starting. The tourist should first proceed to Carbery, distant about 
six miles, where the hill and Castle of Carbery should be visited, and afterwards 
the source of the Boyne, at Trinity Well, in the adjoining demesne of Newbery. 
About a mile and a half from Enfield, the Edenderry road through Carbery 
crosses the Blackwater rivulet, one of the tributaries of the Boyne ; then the 
neat little village of Johnstown, and between that and Carbery we pass My- 
lerstown church and castle, about a mile to the right of the road. This latter 



XX11 ITINERARY. 

may be visited by those who have time to spare, and who had left Dublin by 
the early morning train. 

From Carbery to Edenderry is not quite four English miles. Except the old 
castle, which is difficult of access, there is very little to delay the tourist in this 
town. Two roads — one direct to the Hill of Carrick, the other the most circui- 
tous, by Monasteroris, Kinnafad, and Grange — lead downward, to Ballybo- 
gan. The former is the shorter, the latter by far the most interesting. From 
Edenderry to Monasteroris is not quite two miles ; from thence to Kinnafad 
a mile, and by the Castle of Grange to the Hill of Carrick, two and a half miles 
more. The next point of interest is Ballybogan, four miles distant from Car- 
rick, and eight from Edenderry. Here two roads, one on each side of the 
Boyne, lead to Clonard. If the tourist intends to return to Dublin the same 
night, the northern road upon the left bank of the river, by which the ruins of 
Ticroghan castle and chapel may be visited, will be found not only the most 
interesting, but the shortest. From Ballybogan Bridge to Clonard is two 
miles- Having visited the moat and the site of the ecclesiastical ruins adjoin- 
ing, the tourist can either continue on to Trim, which is about twelve English* 
miles distant, by crossing to the right bank of the river, at the Boyne Aque- 
duct, or he can return by the Great Western road, over Leinster Bridge, to the 
railway station at Moyvalley, which is about four miles distant ; and, taking 
the evening up- train from Mullingar, return to Dublin the same night. If the 
latter course is pursued, the tourist should proceed by railway to Moyvalley 
the second day ; then visit Clonard ; from thence proceed down the river by 
Trim to Navan, where a branch of the Drogheda railway will take him up 
to Dublin in something more than two hours. 

Trim, and the Boyne from thence to Navan, one of the most interesting 
portions of the excursion, can be visited in a day, by taking a car from En- 
field either direct to Trim, or by Dangan and Laracor : and proceeding from 
Trim, by Newtown and Scurlogstown, to Bective. Here we have again to make 
choice of roads ; on the one side we have Clady, and on the other Assey, Kivers- 
town, Bellinter, and Tara. 

To follow the route in detail from Trim downward, the most pleasing points 
of view will be gained by proceeding on the right bank of the river, then 
crossing over to visit the ruins of Newtown, about a mile distant, returning to 
the right bank, and proceeding to Scurlogstown, Trubly, and the Bridge of 
Bective, distant from Trim four miles and a half, and from Navan three and 

* In this neighbourhood, and about Navan, distances are still counted in Irish miles. 



ITINERARY. XX111 

a half miles. Here we cross to the left hank, and having seen the Abbey, proceed 
upon the same side to visit Clady, which is not a mile distant, and returning 
by the same route to Bective Bridge, follow the road upon the right bank to 
Riverstown Castle, and thence ascend the hill of Tara, which being seen, it 
will be found most advisable to proceed to the bridge of Bellinter, and cross 
over to the left bank, and then, passing through the demesne of Ardsalla, visit 
Cannistown. We next cross the Boyne at Athcarne Bridge, in order to see 
the font at Johnstown, described at page 130, about half a mile distant. It 
is then optional to proceed to Kavan by the road upon the right bank of the 
river, by which one of the best views of Athlumney Castle can be gained, or 
to return again to Athcarne Bridge. 

At Navan the tourist will decide whether he visits the Blackwater then, or 
makes a separate excursion to it afterwards. Cars can be hired to proceed by 
Kells to Virginia. The tourist will find it best in so doing to proceed up the river 
by Liscarton Castle, upon the left bank, to Kells, where the coach-road crosses 
to the right bank, and, having visited St. Kieran's church and well at Castle- 
kieran, the most distant point of interest upon the Blackwater, and to return 
by Teltown, Donaghpatrick, and Bathaldron, to Kavan, by the left or 
northern road. Coaches, however, proceed daily to Kells and Virginia, at 
both of which places cars can be procured to return to Navan. The exami- 
nation of the Blackwater, by any of these means, will occupy an entire day. 
Tourists can leave Dublin by one of the early trains and go by Drogheda to 
Navan, from whence public conveyances proceed by Kells to Virginia ; or cars 
can be hired at either of these places to visit the Blackwater, and return in 
time to catch the up-trains from Navan to Dublin. 

From Navan to Kells is nine English miles ; from Kells to Castlekeiran 
three ; and to Virginia from the latter place nine miles. 

From Navan to Slane we have again choice of roads : the most advisable 
plan will, however, be found to visit Donaghmore church and round tower, 
which is about a mile from Navan, on the left bank of the river, and then, 
returning to Navan, either procure a boat to proceed to Slane, or walk along 
the rampart or track-way of the canal. If neither of these two latter modes 
are feasible, Slane, being distant from Navan about six Irish miles, may be 
reached by either the eastern or western road ; upon the former we have Ard- 
mulchan and Beauparc, and upon the latter, Donaghmore, Dunmoe, Stackallan, 
Baronstown, and Slane demesne. A narrow by-road, about three-quarters of 
a mile long, leads down from the main road to Dunmoe. 



XXIV ITINERARY. 

Slane hotel will be found a very desirable residence for those who can spend 
a few days in visiting the charming scenery of this part of the Boy ne, and excur- 
sions may be made from it to Navan, Tara, Trim, and the places intermediate, 
as well as to Kells, Duleek, the mounds of New Grange and Dowth, the field 
of the Battle of the Boyne, Mellifont, and Monasterboice. 

From Slane to Drogheda, a distance of seven miles, the road upon the left 
bank of the river presents most objects of interest. The tourist should visit 
in succession, Knowth, New Grange, and Dowth, which can be reached by 
a by-road branching off near the first of these monuments. Having seen these 
antiquities and those in Netterville Park adjoining, we proceed by the little 
bridge over the Mattock river, and join the Slane road again near the ford of 
Oldbridge. Having examined the battle-field, should time permit, or that the 
tourist has slept at Slane upon the previous night, a detour may be made 
from Oldbridge, by the road leading up through King William's Glen to Mel- 
lifont, about one mile distant ; from thence to Monasterboice is two, and hav- 
ing seen the latter, one can easily get upon the great northern road, and reach 
Drogheda, which is distant from Monasterboice four miles, time enough to 
get to town by the last train. Cars may be obtained at Drogheda to visit 
any of the places in the vicinity, as Donore, Mornington, and Maiden Tower. 
We suppose there will be a station on the Drogheda and Navan Railway near 
Slane. Fraser's admirable Guide-Book, and the Monthly Time Bills of the 
railways, will be found of great service. 



THE BOYNE. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE RIVER'S SOURCE AND HISTORY. 



Introduction.— the beauties of the botne ; its scenery and historic interest ; its 

archaeological remains. — description of the ancient kingdom of meath ; its 

^e- history and topography. — the plains 

r^'-'iVrpS.'^ y<^>f OF BREGHIA.— THE ENGLISH CONQUEST.— 

■~t".~- ■- I -- .'fj&'Z&i DEARVORGAH., THE HELEN OF THE IRISH 

(5@<V2V. -i. ILIAD. — THE PALE. — GEOGRAPHICAL 

DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER.— THE 

SOURCE, ORIGIN, AND DERIVATION 

OF THE BOYNE.— TRINITY WELL ; ITS 

LEGENDS AND ANTIQUITIES.— THE 

STORY OF BOAN AND DABELLA. 




1 M N G the many 
- '-^'scenes of beauty and of interest with 
¥$; which this fair island abounds, we 
know of none which combines such 
variety of the former or so many ob- 
jects of the latter as the " Pleasant 
Boyne." And although this river 
does not burst upon us amidst the 
wild and stern grandeur of the moun- 
tains, with dashing torrent o'erleap- 
ing in its rapid course all the bar- 
riers of nature, or making its echoes 
heard among the deep hollows of 




^ THE CHARACTER OF THE BOYNE. 

dark- wooded dells, but pursues the quiet, even tenor of its 
way, through a flat but rich and fertile country, winding by 
"its own sweet will" through broad savannahs and by green 
inches, where the calm ripple of its placid waters disturbs 
not the song of the mavis ; still it possesses charms and beau- 
ties, and that, too, without a rival in this or perhaps any 
other country. Slow, calm, and tranquil in its early course, the 
mower whets his scythe in the deep meadows by its brink, and 
the reaper gathers the corn from the very margin of its waters ; 
the swift and the martin skim over its clear surface, and the 
robin sings in the ancient thorn that rises out of the adjoining 
hedge-row. The very may- fly, as it lights upon it, breaks the 
mirror of its surface. The wide- spreading circles which mark 
the springing of the trout, or the timid breathing of the roach, 
are all, save the flapping of the water-hen, or the easy paddle 
of the baldcoot, that disturb its placid bosom. 

In this gentle stream there is no inequality — no roar of 
waters nor spray of cataract; it is not boisterous nor yet 
sluggish ; neither broken by the sudden rapid, nor calmed by 
spreading into the broad lake; but, pure and undefiled, it 
springs from the crystal fountain of the living rock, — its source 
sanctified by religious veneration, and commemorated in legend 
and in song; serene and peaceful, like a true philosopher, it 
glides noiselessly on, in deep but calm repose, bestowing the 
blessings of fertility on the counties through which it flows; 
bearing on its bosom the intercourse which socializes man; 
enriching, beautifying, and civilizing, it receives in return 
the homage of its tributaries, and finally mingles with that 
eternity of waters, the sea. As Clutterbuck says of his story, 
in " The Fortunes of Nigel," " commencing strikingly, pro- 
ceeding naturally, ending happily, — like the course of a famed 
river, which gushes from the mouth of some obscure and ro- 
mantic grotto, then gliding on, never pausing, never precipi- 
tating its course, visiting, as it were, by natural instinct, 
whatever worthy objects of interest are presented by the 
country through which it passes." Winding through the 
heart of the ancient kingdom of Meath, green homesteads, 
picturesque villages, peaceful hamlets, and thriving towns 
rise on its banks ; the hand of man has turned its power to 
good account, and mills and factories draw their animation 
from its waters ; the freights of foreign lands, the luxuries of 



ITS SCENERY. 3 

far-distant countries, are borne on its stream towards the in- 
terior, and the produce of our own soil and the industry of our 
people is carried downwards on its tide. Deep hanging woods 
and rich plantations of noble parks and extensive demesnes, 
where the willows dip into its calm waters, and the oaks and 
elms of centuries are mirrored in the wave beneath, stretch 
for miles along its course, where 

"Slow, and in soft murmurs, nature bade it flow." 

Towards its centre, and as it nears the sea, its banks become 
more elevated, their outline more picturesque. Here, rising ab- 
ruptly from the water's edge, their castled crags, bending over 
the stream, remind us of the scenery that characterizes the 
Rhine between Cologne and Mayence ; in other places, sloping 
gradually from the river, their sides are clothed with foliage of 
the deepest, darkest green, piled up in waving leafy masses to 
their very summits, so that the sun itself is hidden (except at 
noon) in many places from its dark waters. The summits of 
many of these verdant banks are crowned by ruins of castles, 
towers, and churches, feudal halls, and high baronial keeps, 
still noble even in their decay, and forming, as they are cut 
clear and sharp against the azure blue beyond, pictures in the 
landscape, unsurpassed in grace and beauty by any in the land. 
In the broad lawns that here and there interpose between these 
verdant banks and steep o'erhanging precipices, we find the 
noble mansions of some of the highest of our nobility, and many 
of the most memorable ecclesiastical remains — the cell of the 
hermit, the cloister of the monk, and the cross of the pilgrim 
— that Ireland, rich as she is in relics of the past, can boast of. 
Ancient stone circles, massive cromlechs, and numerous green 
mounds, raised by our Pagan ancestors, some clothed with velvet 
sward, but others fringed with young plantations, are thickly 
interspersed among the more attractive objects that catch the 
eye, as it descends upon the limpid surface of the Boyne. 
Highly cultivated lands, richly ornamented seats, and a popu- 
lation, generally speaking, more comfortable, more intelligent, 
and more advanced in civilization than the majority of our 
peasantry, may fill up the outline we have faintly and briefly 
endeavoured to draw of the general characteristics and present 
appearance of this celebrated river ; and though Spencer has 
not sung its praises, nor Raleigh gossiped upon its banks, it has 

b 2 



4 THE PASS AND THE BATTLE-FIELD. 

been hallowed by events the most interesting in our country's 
annals. So memorable in ancient history, and so rich in mo- 
numents of the past is it, that we fear not to assert that the 
history of Ireland might be written in tracing its banks. Many 
a broad smiling plain through which it flows, now green with 
waving corn, or perfumed and decorated by the wild flowers of a 
pasture land, or by some delicate female hand cultivated into 
the elegant garden, in the bowers of which the birds of spring 
are singing, was once the scene of mortal strife, and crimsoned 
with the blood of warriors, where the clang of battle, the 
shout of the victorious, the groan of the dying, and the prayer 
of the suppliant, alone were heard. Scarcely a ford upon this 
river but was disputed in days gone by ; every pass was a 
Thermopylae ; the bardic annals teem with descriptions of its 
battles ; the fairy lore of other days yet lingers by its tran- 
quil waters ; and scarcely a knoll, or mound, or rock, or bank 
in its vicinity but still retains its legend. The peasant even 
yet paddles his corragh, or frail canoe of skins, across its wa- 
ters, and many of the superstitious rites and customs of our 
ancestors are still observed by the people of that district. 
How time runs on, and science widens the circle of her power, 
yet man and many of his customs remain the same for cen- 
turies ; — on one side of the bridge of Drogheda may still be 
seen the wicker corragh, with its horse-skin covering, the same 
in design and execution, perhaps, as floated there a thousand 
years ago ; and on the other we find the latest invented and 
most improved screw- steamer ! 

The plains of Midhe, and the flowery fields of Breghia, 
through which the Boyne flows, appear to have been the first 
cultivated in Ireland ; and it is more than probable that one of 
the earliest waves of population which reached our island passed 
up the stream of this great river, and that the aborigines settled 
amidst the wooded hills and deep alluvial plains upon its banks, 
and have left their bones in the numerous barrows and tumuli 
still remaining upon its shores. Beyond all doubt, the ear- 
liest undoubted kings of Erin reigned upon its banks, where 
also the earliest laws were framed, the earliest poems sung, 
and the most profound druidical mysteries celebrated. Soldiers 
and sages, bards and brehons, have commemorated many of its 
localities ; the romance of Irish history is laid amidst the 
scenery of this river, and much of the imagery of our earliest 



SHADOWS OF HISTORY. 5 

poets was drawn from this fertile source. Christianity entered 
Ireland through this sacred stream ; Patrick first landed at the 
Boyne's mouth, and raised the beacon of the cross at Slane; 
his first sermons were preached, and his first conversions took 
place 

" "Where, in delightful streams, 
The Boyne, the darling of the ocean, flows."* 

Foreign invaders, the Dane and the Norseman, first entered 
this kingdom on its waters. The earliest abodes of learning, 
and the most renowned schools of Christian philosophy which 
our annalists record, had their seats by its margin ; parliaments 
and councils were held in its castles ; and kingdoms — in battles 
fought by kings — were lost and won upon its banks. 

These are not the fanciful speculations of the enthusiastic 
but imaginary writers of the last century; the monuments 
speak for themselves, their architecture tells their date and 
purpose ; many of the historic annals which relate these cir- 
cumstances, formerly difficult of access, and known or capable 
of being understood but by a few, have been recently published 
in the English tongue, and have satisfied even the most incre- 
dulous as to their antiquity and authenticity. It is acknow- 
ledged by all capable of forming an opinion on the subject, 
that the history of Ireland has yet to be written, but the ma- 
terials for it are now being collected, and rendered accessible 
and instructive, by competent authorities, with an interest and 
an enthusiasm, and, moreover, with a critical regard to the 
simple and unbiassed statement of the authors, alike honour- 
able to the country, and creditable to those engaged in 
the production of these works. We are not vain enough to 
boast of, nor credulous enough to believe, all that is related in 
many of the early Irish manuscripts, no more than we place 
implicit faith in all that is told in the great Grecian Epic, or 
that historians have set down in the primitive histories of other 
kingdoms ; but we receive them as shadows of great historical 
events, and as highly characteristic of the manners and cus- 
toms of the times and people they describe. And it may be 
here remarked, that so far from critical investigation or research 



* " In regione Breg prope fluvium pulcherrinium et fertilem Boyn."- 
Ussher, Primord., p. 850. 



O INDIFFERENCE TO IRISH HISTORY. 

invalidating the testimony of our early Irish bards and anna- 
lists, it has been found, and every day's experience confirms 
the fact, that the more we collate, examine, and compare, ma- 
nuscript with manuscript, author with author, and both with 
those monuments and antiquities which have still remained 
undefaced, and the more we test them with contemporaneous 
history, the more the shadow will be found to correspond with 
the substance of the truth they figure.* This is the age of 
true eclectic investigation. The country, notwithstanding all 
her present poverty and privation, is not only ripe for its re- 
ception, but cries loudly for her history. It is a fact strange 
but true, that either from prejudice, apathy, or indifference, 
while the histories of Greece, Rome, England, and Scotland, 
are taught, or at least boys are compelled to read them, at the 
schools for the sons of the Irish gentry and middle classes, the 
history of Ireland, such as it is, is never heard of. 

In the historical remarks which we purpose introducing in 
order to illustrate the Boyne, it cannot be expected that, in a 
popular work of this description, we should break the text 
and stay the narrative by interlarding its pages with critical 
references to all the various sources of Irish history from which 
we have drawn these materials. Neither is it our intention 
to describe minutely all the geographical relations, and various 
industrial resources of this river ; but to present a series of 
picturesque views from those points in which its scenic beauty 
is most remarkable, and particularly to draw the attention of 
the tourist and young antiquary to those localities which are 
memorable for their historical recollections, or venerated for 
their archaeological interest ; and, as we have already stated, 
no other river in Ireland affords the same scope for the study 
of these objects, combined with the same variety and extent of 
pastoral inland scenery, of such depth of colour, and such grace 
of outline, as the Boyne, for at least thirty miles of its course. 

In proof of our assertion, with regard to the numerous mo- 
numents upon the Boyne, we may remark, that from Trim to 
Drogheda we have traces of every epoch of Irish history, from 
the ante-historic period, the date of which carries us back to 

* We know no better proof of this statement than Mr. Petrie's Essay on 
the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill, published in the Transactions of the 
Royal Irish Academy, vol. xviii. part ii. 



THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE BOYNE. / 

the primaeval occupation of this island, and which is indelibly 
marked by the Pagan cromlech, the rude cell and altar, and 
the stone chamber or kistvaen with its surrounding mound, 
containing rude earthen urns, the incinerated bones, the shell 
ornaments, and stone weapons of our Firbolg and Tuatha De 
Danaan ancestors,* together with their circular raths and 
intrenched military forts, of which we have examples in the 
mounds and tumuli at Carbery, Clonard, Ardmulchan, New- 
grange, Dowth, Knockminaune, and Brugh-na-Boinne. Here 
we may linger, 

" By the cromlech sloping downward, 

Where the Druid's victim bled, 
By those towers pointing sunward, 

Hieroglyphics none have read, 
In their mystic symbols, seeking, 

Of past creeds and rites o'erthrown, 
If the truths they shrined are speaking . 

Yet in litanies of stone." — Speranza. 

The sacred well from which the river flows, with its half- 
fabulous legends, serves to connect the earliest historic period 
with preceding times, and marks a period shrouded in mystery 
and Druidism. 

Tara, with its Lia Fail, or oracular stone, and its grassy 
mounds, stands alone, the crowning place of its kings, the fo- 
rum of the sages, and the banqueting hall of the nobles of Erin, 
at least eighteen centuries ago. Then follow the early Chris- 
tian buildings, the oratories and small missionary churches, 
sculptured crosses, carved fonts, and round towers, as at Mo- 
nasteroris, Clonard, Donaghmore, and St. Eark, till such pri- 
mitive buildings rose into the more stately edifices, churches, 
and monasteries of Slane, Trim, Bective, and Drogheda. The 
baronial halls of the Anglo-Normans and proud castles of the 
Pale stretching along its banks, and commanding every ford 
and pass, — as at Carbery, Trim, Athlumny, Dunmoe, and 
Castle- Dexter, — mark another era, and tell of the extended 
sway of the De Lacys, Husseys, Berminghams, Plunkets, 
Cusacks, Barnwells, Flemings, Prestons, Petits, Tuites, 
D' Arcys, and other English chieftains, from the time of the 
invasion to the age of Elizabeth. Although we do not find 

* For a description of the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Danaans see the ethno- 
logical inquiry at the end of this volume, after the account of Dowth. 



3 HISTORICAL TABLEAUX. 

any well-authenticated architectural remains of the O'Me- 
laghlins, the ancient monarchs of Meath, still remaining, their 
written history enables us to note with tolerable precision the 
strongholds and fortresses, as well as the sites of the abbeys 
and churches founded by this memorable and ill-fated race, 
— ruins that still remain, — the foot-prints of history, — with 

Ivied arch and pillar lone, 



Pleading haughtily for glories gone." 

The various holy wells sheltered by the ancient oaks and 
thorns, and alike venerated by the Druid priest and the early 
Christian saint and pilgrim, occur in spots so calm, so lone 
and peaceful, that religious veneration is there awakened, even 
in the most apathetic. 

The town of Drogheda notes a memorable era in the time of 
Cromwell, and its numerous military and ecclesiastical remains 
extend over a period of undoubted authenticity for at least 
one thousand years. The site and story of the " Battle of the 
Boyne," on that memorable occasion when, for the last time, 
two kings fought for the sovereignty of these realms, brings us 
down to a date almost within the memory of man ; while the 
monster meeting at Tara, the last great effort of O'Connell 
and the " moral force Repealers," occurred but a few years ago. 
And yet with all this we know of no river that has been more 
neglected by writers, and no scenery that is less known within 
the same distance of the metropolis, than that which the Boyne 
presents for the greater portion of its course. The modern 
writers upon Ireland have one and all carefully avoided it. 
Inglis encircled Ireland, but "did" the Boyne while the northern 
mail whirled him over the bridge of Drogheda. Barrow no 
sooner approached its waters than he fled from them in dis- 
may. The "Angler in Ireland" appears to have omitted it by 
particular desire ; and with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Hall's 
account of its appearance at Trim, it has remained unnoticed 
and undescribed by all modern systematic writers upon the 
scenery of this portion of the British dominions. 

Dr. Petrie, w T ho first drew attention to its beauties in a 
short paper published in the last volume of those valuable 
records of Irish history, the Penny Journals, thus graphi- 
cally describes a portion of this river: "It is of a character 
as beautiful as could be found anywhere, or even be ima- 



CELTIC ANTIQUITIES. \) 

gined. Scenery of this class, of equal richness, may be often 
found in England, but we do not know of any river's course 
of the same length in which natural beauty so happily com- 
bines, or in which so many interesting memorials of past ages 
could be found. Scattered in rich profusion along the banks 
of this beautiful river, we find the noblest monuments of the 
various races of men who have had sway in Ireland. It is on 
its luxuriant banks, amid so many instructive memorials of 
past ages, that the history of our country, as traced in its mo- 
numents, could be best studied." 

Nor will our readers cavil at this broad assertion, when they 
remember the various remains which we have enumerated, and 
the great and numerous historic events to which we have al- 
luded: while, from among the ruins with which it abounds, 
and underneath the very sod turned up by the spade of the la- 
bourer, in the vast and fertile plains of Leinster traversed by the 
Boyne, a mine of Irish antiquities has been, and is daily being 
worked, which has largely assisted to stock the museums of 
our own and other countries. Stone weapons, hatchets, knives, 
and arrow-heads of various shapes and sizes ; bronze celts, 
swords, and spear-heads ; terra-cotta vases ; golden torques, 
rings, bracelets, and ornaments of great value, and of the 
most beautiful forms ; musical instruments of brass ; rings, pins, 
and fibulae of silver ; knives, swords, axes, shears, and domes- 
tic utensils of iron ; combs and pins of bone and wood ; besides 
other warlike, culinary, or decorative implements and orna- 
ments of the early people of Ireland, have been here found in 
rich profusion. Here, moreover, may the naturalist speculate 
on the various races of the extinct animals of this country, — 
the gigantic elk, almost peculiar to Ireland, the antlered 
stag, the noble wolf-dog, the different varieties of horned cat- 
tle and domestic animals, whose remains are found in its bogs 
and marshes ; or of fowl and other small animals occasionally 
discovered among the incinerated bones in the urns and tu- 
muli: where also the ethnologist may procure ample means for 
study and speculation. Shrines, bells, and croziers of the most 
chaste form and moulding, to many of which an undoubted 
authentic history is attached, have likewise been discovered in 
this rich locality. If the remains of plants and animals, fixed 
in the enduring rocks, mark for the geologist epochs of time, 
convulsions of nature, transition periods, and great physical 



10 A SUMMER AND AN AUTUMN SCENE. 

revolutions on the surface of our globe, how much more do 
the weapons, ornaments, and tombs with their contents and 
architectural remains, afford the antiquary and historian a 
means of ascertaining, with much greater precision, their his- 
toric epochs, and of forming an acquaintance with the habits, 
manners, and customs, the religion, arts, music, sports, and 
warfare, of the people to whom such antiquities belonged. 

Moreover, along the Boyne and its tributaries may the angler 
enjoy good sport, with both trout and salmon, and the bota- 
nist reap a plenteous harvest of some of the richest and rarest 
plants peculiar to the inland districts of Ireland. 

Let us wander together by the banks of the Boyne, when the 
sun is high in heaven, when the warm air of summer is around 
us, the trees still green with the foliage of spring, and musical 
with the notes of birds, and the kine stand in the ford, splash- 
ing in the stream which quietly ripples by them ; then, when 
the cuckoo revels in the grove, and the rail crakes in the mea- 
dow, while the perfume of the thorn still lingers about the 
hedge-rows, and the dragon-fly is flitting to and fro among the 
naggers by the water's edge, let us wend our way along its 
peaceful margins. Such has been the character of the scene, 
and such the impressions made upon us, when the notes from 
which this little work has been compiled were written down ; 
and as such we would present it to our readers, and describe 
it from our summer recollections, when piles of the richest 
foliage were shadowed in the deep pools of the placid waters, 
when the lark carolled high above us, and the long calm twi- 
light of midsummer, with all its poetic associations, induced 
us to linger amidst these lovely scenes of beauty, fairy legend, 
and historic interest. 

As the season has advanced the scene is changed over all the 
land ; the corn has been gathered in, and now stands in well- 
built stacks round the snug homestead ; the stream has filled up 
its brinks, and spread partly into the adjoining meadows, while 
its surface is ruffled by the fitful gusts of the October blast, 
or thrown into bubbles by the heavy patter of the passing 
shower of this autumnal April. The various shades of green 
which decked the forest and plantation have given place to the 
glowing orange, or the more sombre russet tints of umber and 
sienna ; the haws have crimsoned the hedges, and the leaves 
are falling fast, and rustling into nooks and crannies for shelter ; 



THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF MEATH. 1 1 

occasional gleams of bright sunshine give, at times, a glow of 
warmth to the landscape, but they nevertheless forebode the 
shower, or herald in the rainbow. A few of the early trees 
have already become stripped of their foliage, and form grace- 
ful studies for the student of nature, who, if he would excel 
in painting trees with their foliage on, should study the ana- 
tomy of the leafless branches with as much care as the figure- 
painter devotes to the dry bones of the skeleton. The lapwing- 
wheels and peeweets over the dreary moor, and clouds of field- 
fares and starlings appear in the distance, as if gathering for 
the winter's campaign. 

But whether it be early spring, with all its morning fresh- 
ness and elasticity, or sultry summer, or yellow autumn, there 
is still the same sylvan beauty, the ever-changing tints which 
the green foliage, the graceful undulation of surface, the 
glancing river, and the picturesque ruin, impart to the land- 
scape of the British Isles, nowhere else to be met with, whereon 
the eye never wearies, the mind never palls, and of which the 
memory never loses sight. 

As this is the great river of Meath, a few observations on 
that ancient province may not be out of place. Under the de- 
nomination Meath, Meth, Mide, Media, or Meidhe, and in part 
that of Magh-Breagh, was formerly included a far wider and 
more extensive territory than that comprised in the present 
county of this name. The district included under this title is 
one of the most level and fertile in the kingdom, and originally 
stretched from the interior of the island to the sea; hence Cam- 
den and other English writers derive its name of Media. Pto- 
lemy places the Laberus, or ancient central castle and city of 
this kingdom, in the territory of Meath ; but antiquaries are 
as yet undecided whether the present Kells, Tara, or Killaire 
Castle, occupies the site of that memorable spot ; though Tara 
seems obviously the place intended by the great geographer, 
whose transcribers and commentatators in all probability mis- 
took the word Taverus for Laberus. 

There is an ancient tradition handed down through our 
manuscripts, that the Firbolgs, or Belgas, as they have been 
termed, first settled in this locality ; and it is not at all impro- 
bable that a rude and primitive people, living by hunting and 
fishing, such as we may suppose the early inhabitants of this 
country were, would, upon their arrival on the north-eastern 



12 THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF MEATH. 

shores of Ireland, seek the interior through the noble stream 
that traversed this great plain, where the woods and forest 
glades afforded plenty of game, the waters abundance of fish, 
and, in process of time, as civilization advanced, its fertile lime- 
stone soil returned a plenteous crop, and its luxuriant pastures 
produced numerous herds of cattle. The old writer, Bartho- 
lemeius Anglicus, as quoted by Camden, described it as " A 
soil which yields plenty of wheat and pastures, well stocked 
with herds, abounding with fish, flesh, and other provisions, 
butter, cheese, and milk, and well watered by rivers ; the situ- 
ation of it is delightful, and the air healthy. The woods and 
marshes in its extremities defend its approaches, and from the 
number of people, the strength of its castles and towns, and 
the peace which it enjoys in consequence thereof, it is com- 
monly called The Chamber of Ireland" 

The first fortified houses and stone buildings that we read 
of were in Meath.* The earliest chronological era to which the 
most veracious of the modern Irish historians refer, is about 
the middle or towards the end of the second century, when 
Tuathal Teachtmar, one of the Scotic or Milesian Pagan mo- 
narchs, reigned at Tara. He erected Meath into a fifth pro- 
vince, as mensal lands or appanage for the monarchy, by taking 
in portions from each of the other four; hence the Irish histo- 
rians derived its name of Meidhe — a neck — on account of its 
being formed by necks taken from the surrounding districts or 
provinces. The fact of the Gospel having been first preached 
and received in Meath is a proof of its civilization, in compa- 
rison with the other parts of the island at that period ; and the 
immediate reception and rapid extension of the Christian doc- 
trine among the kings and nobles assembled on the banks of 
the Boyne on St. Patrick's arrival, speaks loudly for the state 
of education in Ireland at that time.f If the Gospel came to 

* By this we do not mean castles. One of the earliest castles erected in 
Ireland of which there exist any remains is believed to be Caislean na Kirka, 
or the Hen's Castle, upon a rock in the upper lake of Lough Corrib, one of the 
wildest and most picturesque spots in Ireland. Some portions of the ruins of 
this building still remain. We have slept there when a boy. See an account 
of this castle by Dr. Petrie, in the Irish Penny Journal, for July 25, 1840. 

f Patrick certainly first preached in Meath, and probably the earliest great 
conversion to Christianity took place there ; but it should be here remarked, that 
it has been the boast of the Munstermen (at least for the last thousand years) 



ITS FOUR ROYAL PALACES. 13 

Ireland in the fifth century, and was received, as it is stated 
to have been, and as we have every reason to believe it was, 
then, indeed, the tone of the bards and annalists who describe 
the high state of the arts, and who place such noble sentiments 
in the mouths of our kings and chieftains at that time, is not 
as vaunting as some critics have supposed. 

The province or kingdom of Meath, as established by Tuathal, 
extended from Dublin to the Shannon, and from the centre of 
Ireland to the sea, and included both east and west Meath, 
with portions of Dublin, King's County, Longford, and Cavan. 
A part of it was then styled Magh Breagh, " the magnificent 
plain," or the Campus Brigantium of Dr. O'Conor and other 
authors. The Owen Ree (King's River), now called the Rye- 
water, was the boundary of this region on the one side, and 
the Casan, in Louth, on the other. It is thus described in an 
old Irish rann: 

" From Lough-bo-deirg to Birr, 
From the Shannon east to the sea, 
To Cumar Chluana-Iraird, 
And to Cumar Cluana aird." 

The ancient manuscripts are very rich in the topographical 
descriptions of this district. It was the seat of Irish monarchy 
for some centuries after its erection into a province, and one of 
our oldest coins is that of Aedh, King of Meath. There were 
four royal palaces of great note and celebrity in this province 
in ancient times, at Tara on the Boyne, Tailten on the Black- 
water, Tlachtga on the Hill of Ward near Athboy, and Uisneach 
in Westmeath. 

Sylvester Giraldus Cambrensis thus describes this portion 
of the Pentarchy: " There arrived in Ireland five brethren that 
were valiant and martial gentlemen; to wit, Gandius, Genan- 
dius, Sagandus, otherwise named Gangandus, Rutheragos, or 
Rutheranus, and Slanius. These five, perceiving that the 
country was not sufficiently peopled, were agreed, as it were, 
to cast lots, and to share the whole realm between themselves. 



that they were the first Irish believers in Christ, and that the Cross was origi- 
nally raised in Ireland (where it still stands) on the strand of Tra-Kieran, on 
the island of Cape Clear. This Munster tradition has been preserved in the 
Books of Lecan and Ballymote, and given to the world by Ussher, Harris, 
Dr. Smith, and a host of other writers. 



1 4 CAMBRENSIS' DESCRIPTION OF MEATH. 

The four elder brethren severing the country into four parts, 
and being loth to use their youngest brother like an outcast 
or step-son, condescended that each of them should, of their 
own portion, allot to Slanius a parcel of their inheritance, which 
being as heartily received of Slanius as it was bountifully 
granted by them, he settled himself therein, and of that por- 
tion it took the appellation of Media, Meeth. The four parts 
meet at a certain stone at Meeth, near the castell of Killaire, 
as an indifferent meare to sever the four regions."* And in 
another place the same authority describes this stone as "Um- 
bilicus Hiberniae, quasi in Medio in Meditullio terri positus." 
This large rock is still to be seen on the hill of Uisneach, near 
Killare, county of Westmeath, and is now called Cat-Uisnigh 
by the natives. And in the additions which Hooker has made 
to the first portion of the work of the English chaplain, we 
read: " Meth, in Latine Media, is one of the five portions of 
Ireland, according to the first division. It is the least portion, 
being but of eighteene cantreds, but yet the best and most 
fertile, and lieth for the most part all within the English Pale: 
and ever since the conquest of king Henrie the Second, hath 
beene subject and obedient to the English laws and governe- 
ment : and bicause it lieth as it were in the navill and bowels 
of the land, it taketh the name accordinglie, being called Me- 
dia, which is the middle ;" and he adds : " There was no prince 
sole governour of this, as was of the other portions ; bicause it 
was alwaies allowed and allotted to the monarch, whom they 
called Maximum Regem, or Begem Hibernian, as a surplus towards 
his diet." This latter, however, like many other statements of 
the same authorities, is to be received with caution. 

Slanius, it is said, soon enlarged his dominions, so that he 
obtained the monarchy of Ireland. " This Slanius is entombed 
at a hill in Meeth, which of him is named Slane." 

In subsequent times, and up to the date of the English in- 
vasion, the five provinces were thus possessed : the O'Melagh- 
lins ruled in Meath ; the O' Conors in Connaught ; the Mac Mur- 
roughs (afterwards called Cavanaghs) in Leinster; and the 
O'Briens in Thomond or Munster. 

To this day Meath is the great grazing ground of Ireland ; 
in it are to be found the most extensive sheep-walks and pas- 

* See Giraldus's Topographia Hibernica, translated by Stanihurst. 



ITS PRESENT FERTILITY. 15 

ture lands; the finest horned cattle, with the exception of those 
of Roscommon, are bred in Meath ; and its vicinity to the 
metropolis and the sea has always afforded it a ready home 
consumption, and an easy mode of transit to the English mar- 
kets. Its crops are generally so luxuriant, and its land so 
fertile, that it has been asserted that if it were all grown 
in corn it would feed and might form the granary for the 
whole of Ireland. Its natural capabilities, and particularly 
its flat level surface, must have rendered it easy to retain when 
once possessed by an invading army, and easy to colonize by 
an industrious people. The fertility and riches of Meath more 
than once excited the cupidity of the roving Northmen ; and 
several incursions of the Danes are enumerated in the Annals, 
but particularly that of Turgesius, in the ninth century. 
Naturalists have been at some pains to discover from whence 
or through what breeds the present improved English race of 
short-horned and other highly esteemed varieties of domestic 
oxen have been obtained, and indeed the question is not yet 
decided ; this fact, however, is certain, that in the bogs and 
marshes of Meath, at Dunshaughlin, not far from the river 
Boyne, numerous remains of the ancient animals, both wild 
and domestic, which formerly existed in this country, have been 
discovered, and particularly those of oxen, which for beauty 
of head and horn might vie with the finest modern improved 
breeds of England, notwithstanding all the pains and expense 
that have been gone to in bringing them to their present state 
of perfection ; and yet there can be little doubt of those bones, 
to which we have referred, having lain beneath the surface for 
many centuries.* 

The early population of Meath must have been very great ; 
but, owing to the "clearance system" which has long existed 
in this county, and produced those extensive pasture lands to 
which we have alluded, it is now much less, in proportion to 
its cultivateable land, than that of any county in Ireland, and, 
therefore, in several parts of it, the amount of labour is une- 
qual to the demand. The peasantry are handsome, well made, 
stout, and healthy, but more serious and taciturn than those in 



* See an account of these remains by the Author of this book, in the Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. i. p. 420 ; and in Mr. and Mrs. Hall's 
Ireland, where the heads of these cattle are figured, vol. ii. p. 393. 



16 THE PEASANTRY OF MEATH. 

the mountain districts of our island ; and, as might be expected, 
the admixture of races is here so great, that the ethnologist is 
puzzled to make out Celts from Saxons, or distinguish Mile- 
sians from those retaining any vestige of the primitive tribes, 
as may be done in other parts of the island. The colour of 
their frieze is a light grey, contradistinguished from the blue 
of the west, and the dark brown of the south ; the costume of 
the females has of late become less national than in other parts 
of the kingdom; and as civilization extends, the English broad- 
cloth is worn by great numbers. Some twenty or thirty years 
ago, before the large flax-mills and factories were established on 
the Boyne, the female attire was more picturesque and less di- 
versified. In the flourishing days of the linen trade, when the 
fields waved with the beautiful bells of the flax, and pipers 
played at the camps and princkums* in all the villages, most 
of the females, young and old, were then employed in spinning, 
and dressed in black felt hats, like the Welsh of the present day, 
green linsey-woolsey gowns, and red flannel petticoats. When 
their occupation ceased, on the establishment of the flax-mills, 
and the decline of the linen trade, this dress was abandoned, 
perhaps from the means of procuring it being withdrawn, but 
also owing in a great measure to the breaking up of the clan- 
ship which then existed amongst the spinners, who used to 
meet in numbers at the farmers' houses, and work, and dance, 
and sing, almost without intermission, for several days toge- 
ther. 

Native music and poetry are not found to flourish on great 
plains, such as Meath, as luxuriantly as they do in the hills and 
dells of more elevated regions ; yet the lasses of the Boyne are 
by no means as sombre and phlegmatic as the men ; and songs, 
tales, fairy legends, country dances, and planxties, with wan- 
dering bards, and shanaghies and their tales of pishogues, 
thivishes, and superstitions, together with blind pipers and 
lame fiddlers, are not wanting to enliven the dull, tedious 
evenings of winter, from Kells to Maiden Tower.f 

* A word applied, in some parts of the west of Ireland, to a merry-making. 

f The Meathmen, who were very Irish in the last century, used to boast 
that they spoke better Irish, and had more poets, minstrels, and men of genius 
among them, and that they were more lively and energetic than the boors of 
Leinster, whom they always defeated at hurling, boxing, wrestling, and other 
athletic exercises. Up to about fifteen years ago, the men of Meath used to 



THE O'MELAGHLINS. 17 

Passing over the occupation of Meath by a line of heroes 
that certainly were not, when the foregoing topographical de- 
scriptions were given, a " royal ragged race of Tara," and the 
early monarchs and chieftains, from Con of the Hundred Bat- 
tles, the venerable Cormac Mac Art, Niall of the Nine Hos- 
tages,* and Finn Mac Cumhaill, the Fingal of Mac Pherson's 
Ossian, whose history, as exhibiting the state of civilization in 
Ireland, as well as the habits, manners, and customs of the 
people in their times, is well worth the attentive study of our 
readers ; we arrive at the days of the O'Melaghlins, who were 
kings in Meath at the time of the English invasion, when a 
daughter of that royal line, Dearvorgail, the faithless bride 
of Brefney, and the Helen of the Irish Iliad, was seduced by 
the ill-fated Dermot Mac Murrough, King of Leinster : 



" Oh, degenerate daughter 



Of Erin, how fallen is thy fame ; 
And through ages of bondage and slaughter 
Thy country shall weep for thy shame." 

The English monarch deposed the rightful O'Melaghlin, and 
made a grant of the fair province of Meath to Hugh de Lacy, 
one of the fiercest of the soldiers of Strongbow, with, according 
to some authorities, the title of Lord Palatine. The Boyne's 
bank became, in after years, the boundary of " The English 
Pale ;" and numerous castles and strongholds rose along it, 
occupied by the Anglo-Norman families already enumerated. 
In the reign of Henry VIII. Meath was divided into east and 
west. 

Notwithstanding our promise not to enter too minutely into 
the subject of Irish history, or break the text by constant re- 
ferences to authorities, we cannot prevent ourselves, though 

exhibit their powers in wrestling matches with the men of Kildare and Dublin 
in the Phoenix Park. We often witnessed these encounters, which resembled 
the Dornghal, or boxing- battle, of Bri-Eile, described in the Annals of the 
Four Masters, A. D. 468. 

The last great patron of Irish wrestling was the witty and eccentric Bren- 
nan, the writer of the Milesian Magazine, generally known among the lower 
orders as the " wraslin-doctor," while among his professional brethren he was 
commonly denominated " Turpentine Brennan," who used to preside over and 
sometimes partake in the wrestling matches which took place on a Sunday 
morning at the Broadstone harbour. 

* From Niall sprung the two great clans of the northern and southern 
Hy Nialls, who figure so conspicuously in our Irish history. 

C 



18 THE ELOPEMENT OF DEARVORGAIL; 

at the risk of detracting from the interest of the romance, 
relating a few truths — at least, a few well-authenticated histo- 
ric facts — connected with some of the dramatis personce of the 
English invasion. The day has gone by when the fable and 
fact of history could be presented to the reader indiscrimi- 
nately ; and Irishmen, in particular, so often accused of expres- 
sing themselves in superlatives, jumping at conclusions, and 
drawing so largely upon their imaginations, should endeavour, 
while they popularize their history, to present nothing, even 
in a guide-book, but what is strictly founded on good authority. 
The elopement of Dearvorgail (or Dearvorgailla, which means 
in Irish "the true pledge") with Dermot Mac Murrough is 
generally believed to have been the sole cause of the English 
invasion ; but this is questionable ; at least the subject requires 
to be further investigated, although there can be little doubt 
but it rendered the king of Leinster more obnoxious to 
O'Rourke and his connexions, the O' Conors of Connaught, than 
he had previously been, and probably hastened the catastrophe. 
O'Rourke was blind of one eye, and, at the time of the elope- 
ment, must have been as old as Dermot at least, and, conse- 
quently, several years senior to his wife, who, we know to a 
certainty, was born in the year 1 1 08, and was therefore in her 
forty-fourth year in 1 152, the date of her and our misfortune. 
At this time Dermot was in his sixty-second year ! and appears 
from all accounts to have been of a most unamiable disposition 
and ungainly person. Giraldus Cambrensis, who must have 
seen him frequently, thus describes him (we quote from 
Hooker's translation): " This man, from his verie youth, and 
first entrie into his kingdome, was a great oppressor of his 
gentlemen, and a cruell tyrant over his nobles, which had bred 
him great hatred and malice. Dermot Mac Morough was a tall 
man of stature, and of a large and great bodie, a valliant and 
a bold warrior in his nation ; and, by reason of his continuall 
hallowing and crieing, his voice was hoarse. [Ex crebro con- 
tinuoque belli clamore voce raucenosa, fyc.~\ He rather chose to 
be feared than loved. He would be against all men, and all 
men against him." After the battle of Ossory, it is recorded 
that when the heads of the slain were brought before him by 
the soldiers of Robert Fitzstephen, " among them there was 
the head of one whom especiallie and above all the rest he 
mortallie hated. And he taking up that by the heare and eares 



HER DEATH AT MELLEFONT. 19 

with his teeth most horriblie and cruellie bit awaie his nose 
and lips."* Speaking of O'Rourke, the same author writes, 
that when he heard of his wife's flight, he "was forthwith mar- 
vellouslie troubled, and in great cholor, but more grieved for 
shame of the fact than for sorrow or hurt, and therefore was 
fullie determined to be avenged." 

O'Rourke was on a pilgrimage at Croagh-Patrick at the time, 
and not at Lough-Dearg, as has generally been stated; and the 
Irish historians inform us that the Princess of Brefney left her 
husband's roof, and fled with the King of Leinster, taking with 
her her ornaments and her cattle, with the knowledge and 
even at the instigation of her own brother, O'Melaghlin, son 
of the King of Meath. The Annals of the Four Masters inform 
us that " Dearvorgilla (i. e. the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke), 
daughter of Murrough O'Melaghlin, died in the monastery of 
Drogheda [Mellefont], in the eighty-fifth year of her age." 
A. D. 1 193.f It should be remembered also that Mac Morough 
was not expelled from his kingdom for several years after. 

Civil wars, family feuds, and the rivalry and jealousy of 
clans and chieftains, seem, therefore, to have had as marked an 
influence on the destiny of our unhappy country at that time, 
as the jealousy of husbands and lovers. 

Some observations upon a subject to which frequent refe- 
rence will be made in the course of this work, may here be 
found useful. The boundary of the English Pale or territory 
towards the north and west was chiefly, in later times, formed 
by the river Boyne, which will account for the number of bor- 
der castles built upon its banks ; but it is difficult to define this 
line with any degree of accuracy, for it constantly varied, being 
from time to time narrowed or increased as each party pre- 
vailed, so that it has been said that at one period long after the 
so-called conquest, the King's writ would not run for twenty 
square miles. In Stanihurst's additions to Giraldus Cambrensis 
we read, that, " when Ireland was subdued by the English, 
diverse of the conquerors planted themselves near to Dublin and 
the confines thereto adjoining ; and so, as it were, inclosing and 
impaling themselves within certeine lists and territories, they 

* This description forcibly reminds us of a similar scene in Dante's Inferno, 
where Ugolino is found gnawing the skull of his enemy Ruggieri. 
f See Dr. O'Conor's Prolegomena ad Annates, Part ii. p. 146. 

c2 



20 THE ENGLISH PALE ; 

teased awaie the Irish, insomuch as that countrie became mere 
English, and therefore it was termed the English Pale ; which, 
in ancient time, stretched from Dundalke to Catherlagh or Kil- 
kennie. But now [in 1584], what for the slacknesse of march- 
uors and encroching of the Irish enemie, the scope of the English 
Pale is greately impaired and is cramperned and couch t into 
an od corner of the countrie named Fingall, with a parcel of 
the king his land Meeth, the counties of Kildare and Louth, 
which parts are applied cheenie with good husbandrie, and 
taken for the richest and civelest soiles in Ireland." The ex- 
tent of English territory north-west of Dublin, particularly in 
Meath, may be learned from the several grants made at diffe- 
rent times to Anglo-Saxon nobles and ecclesiastics; as, for in- 
stance, the grant of Meath to Hugh De Lacy by Henry II. ; 
De Lacy's grant to Gilbert De Nugent ; and Walter De Lacy's 
grant to the Bishop of Meath in the reign of Henry III., all 
of which have been published by Dean Butler,* and the two 
latter of which are in the collection of our friend Sir William 
Betham. 

From the Statute of Kilkenny, lately published by Mr. Har- 
diman, in the Irish Archaeological Society's publications, we 
learn in a note by that learned author, that "in the reign of 
Henry VII. the influence of the English extended little farther 
than four counties ; and so straitened were they that it was 
found necessary to protect them from the incursions of the Irish 
by a ditch raised along the borders of the Pale. For this purpose 
an Act was passed in the celebrated Parliament held atDrogheda 
in A. D. 1494. As this curious Act has been passed over in si- 
lence by Cox, and has never been printed, I take the following 
extract from the original roll, preserved in the Kolls Office, 
Dublin : ' As the marches of four shires lie open and not fen- 
sible in fastness of ditches and castles, by which Irishmen do 
great hurt in preying the same : it is enacted that every inha- 
bitant, earth-tiller, and occupier in said marches, i. e. in the 
county of Dublin, from the water of Anliffy to the mountain 
in Kildare, from the water of Anliffy to Trim, and so forth to 
Meath and Uriel, as said marches are made and limitted by an 
Act of Parliament, held by William Bishop of Meath, do build 

* See some notices of the castle of Trim, collected from various authorities ; 
1840. 



ITS EXTENT AND BOUNDARY. 21 

and make a double ditch of six feet high above ground, at one 
side, or part which mireth [meareth?] next unto Irishmen, 
betwixt this and next lammas, the said ditches to be kept up 
and repaired as long as they shall occupy said land, under pain 
of forty shillings ; the lord of said lands to allow the old rent 
of said lands to the builder for one year, under said penalty. The 
Archbishop of Dublin and the sheriff of the county of Dublin, 
the Bishop of Kildare and the sheriff of the county of Kildare, 
the Bishop of Meath, and the sheriff of the county of Meath, 
the Primate of Armagh and the sheriff of the county of Uriel 
[Louth], be commissioners within their respective shires, with 
full power to call the inhabitants of said four shires to make 
ditches in the waste ovFasagh lands without the said marches.' 
This was a low state for conquerors to be reduced to after more 
than three centuries possession. The question of conquest is now 
of little consequence, but the integrity of history is at all times 
important, and it is therefore to be hoped that this subject, which 
can only be cursorily glanced at here, may attract the atten- 
tion of some of our learned associates, who are versed in the 
history and antiquities of their native land."* 

The Boyne rises in the barony, and near the little village of 
Carbery, in the county of Kildare, about seven miles south- 
east of Enfield,f and four from Edenderry, at Trinity Well, in 
the demesne of Newbury, 289 feet above the level of the sea ; 
one of those holy wells so numerous in Ireland, and to which 
so much interest, historical as well as superstitious, is attached. 
Running westward for a few miles, it reaches the King's 
County, and then becomes the boundary for a short distance 
between that part of Leinster and its parent county, draining 
in its course the surplus waters of the adjacent great Bog of 
Allen. Leaving King's County upon its north-western bank, 
it touches Meath near Castle- Jordan, and forms the boundary 
between that county and Kildare, till it reaches Ashford, 
below the bridge of Clonard. In this portion of its course it 
receives the Yellow River and Milltown stream, and, where 

* See also the Rev. M. Kelly's Notes to Cambrensis Eversus, in the Celtic 
Society's recently published edition of that work. 

f Formerly and correctly called Innfield, the field of the Royal Oak Inn. 
It is the nearest railway station, on the Midland Great Western or Mullin- 
gar line, to the Boyne's source. See Itinerary at the commencement of this 
work. 



22 GENERAL VIEW OF THE BOYNE's COURSE. 

it enters Meath, the rivulet bearing the local name of the 
Black water, from Kildare, and the Kinnegad and Deel ri- 
vers, from Westmeath. Below Ashford it is crossed, at the 
Boyne aqueduct, by the Royal Canal and the Midland Great 
Western Railway, and from this point to a few miles above 
Drogheda it traverses the fertile plains of Meath, which county 
it divides into nearly equal parts. Passing onward in the 
same easy course, it reaches the celebrated town of Trim, 
and then Navan, where it receives the Black water from Cavan, 
which is there nearly as large as the Boyne itself, and, flowing 
onward by Slane to the borders of the south of Louth, near 
Oldbridge, the Mattock River empties itself into it a short dis- 
tance above Drogheda. It enters the Irish Channel below that 
town by a broad, shallow estuary, having the county of Louth 
on its left or northern bank, and that of Meath on the right or 
southern. Following its various windings, from its source to 
the sea, opposite to the Maiden Tower below Drogheda, it mea- 
sures about seventy miles on the Ordnance Map, and its general 
direction is from south-west to north-east. While the river 
pursues its sluggish and circuitous course through the county 
in which it rises, and also where it borders a small angle of the 
King's County, it is but an insignificant stream, interesting 
alone from the remains which still exist upon its banks. Not 
far from Edenderry it is crossed by Boyne bridge, bearing the 
road from that town to Clonard. Some gentlemen's seats also 
diversify the landscape, but, generally speaking, the stream is, 
in Kildare, very insignificant, and the country through which 
it passes low and marshy, yet, both in this county, as well as 
in the upper portion of Meath, the Boyne is remarkably tor- 
tuous in its course, and constantly broken with islands, a pe- 
culiarity not uncommon to rivers running through so flat and 
monotonous a country as this. It is to the last stages alone that 
the description, which we have already attempted, of its scenic 
beauty, applies. Looking at the course of the river on the map, 
it will be seen that it forms a segment of a circle, and, taken 
with the Blackwater, it makes the shape of the letter Y. 

Three great natural divisions present themselves to the to- 
pographer of the Boyne : first, from its source to Clonard ; se- 
condly, Clonard to Navan ; and, thirdly, from thence to the 
sea ; each presenting characters peculiar to itself. 

Let us now follow its various windings in detail, and, besides 



BOOK-MAKING. 23 

its natural beauty, observe what objects of interest, either for 
their antiquarian or historic importance, present themselves in 
our track. In so doing, we shall avail ourselves largely of every 
possible source of information : books of all sorts, ancient and 
modern, old records and recent investigations, popular works 
and old black letter tomes, Irish manuscripts, oral traditions, 
and scientific researches, dry historical details, and critical dis- 
sertations, the Archaeological and Celtic Societies' publications, 
the Ordnance Maps, the public records, ancient ecclesiastical 
documents, the old Chancery rolls, State Papers, the inquisitions 
and deeds of forfeiture, the reports of commissioners, parochial 
and county surveys, the ploughman's song, the Penny Journals, 
the calliagh's legend, the stories and superstitions of modern 
shanaghies, ancient ballads, and bardic tales, — each and all shall 
be here, as they have ever been on such occasions, pressed into 
the service, and used when opportunity offers. 

It cannot be expected, however, that in a popular book of 
this description, which is chiefly written for tourists, our 
sources of information should be constantly referred to, after 
the manner of a strictly archaeological work ; no more than 
the materials of which other popular publications have been 
composed, were stated by their authors to have been derived 
from sources accessible to all, but only known to a few, learned 
in Irish history and antiquities. Having prepared ourselves 
for the subject, we have endeavoured to present our readers 
with a faithful description of this river, by traversing its 
banks, or floating down its placid waters, and repeatedly visit- 
ing all those scenes of sylvan beauty or rural comfort, all 
those Pagan relics, feudal remains, and monastic monuments, 
along its margins, which we have attempted to describe. 

The origin and derivation of the word Boyne is involved in 
the same obscurity as that which surrounds the true meaning 
of most ancient terms, either in our own or in the early clas- 
sical literature, and, like them, has occupied the attention 
and elicited the speculations of the learned, and the unlearned 
also. By Ptolemy, on whose map of Ireland we find this river 
figured, it is called Bovinda, or Buvinda; Cambrensis writes 
it Boandus ; and Ware thus speaks of it : " The old name of this 
river is not quite lost, for it is at present called the Boin ; and, 
by Necham, the Boand in Meath. It takes its name, as some 
think, from the word Boan, which, both in British and Irish, 



24 THE ORIGIN OF THE BOYNE. 

signifies swift." In Grace's Annates Hibemice it is written, 
" Boundi Fluvii." 

" Our countryman, Necham," says Camden, "sings thus of 
it:— 

" ' Ecce Boan qui Trim celer influit, istius undas, 
Subdere se salsis Drogheda cernit aquis.' " 

Which he thus translates : — 

" Swift flows the Boyne to Trim, then makes his way 
To join at Drogheda the briny spray." 

The Necham here quoted was Abbot of Cirencester, and died 
in 1217. 

As might be expected from the foregoing portion of this 
sketch, the Irish manuscripts, annals, and poems, are exceed- 
ingly rich in references to, and descriptions of, the Boyne; in- 
deed more so than to any other Irish river, of which we might 
give numerous instances, but shall reserve them till we come 
to speak of the river in detail. The Boyne, Boinn, or Boan, 
has several names in our ancient literature, many of which, 
however, may be referred to the following legend — one which 
Ovid would have enlarged into a charming metamorphosis — 
which is preserved both in prose and verse in two of the oldest 
MSS. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, the Books of 
Lecan and Ballymote; and is copied and repeated in several 
of the Irish romances. Many of our Irish rivers have their 
source in holy wells, and there are few, if any of them, with- 
out their legends. 

The well of the Blessed Trinity, at which the Boyne rises, is 
at the foot of the hill of Carbury, anciently called Sidh Nech- 
tain, the fairy hill of Nechtain. There was a celebrated poet and 
king of Leinster, called Nechtain, or Nuada-Neacht, in the first 
century, who had a secret well in his garden, one of the mira- 
culous virtues of which was, that any one who approached it, 
except the monarch and his three cup-bearers, Flesg, Lesg, 
and Luam, was instantly deprived of sight, their eyes burst- 
ing, as the manuscripts describe it. Female curiosity, how- 
ever, was not to be disappointed, and Boan, the queen, was 
determined to test the mystical powers of its waters ; she, 
therefore, arrogantly, not only approached the well, and defied 
its powers to mar her beauty, but passed three times round it 



THE LEGEND OF BOAN AND DABELLA. 25 

to the left, as was customary in several of the ancient incan- 
tations.* Upon the completion of the third round the charm 
was broken, the spring rose, and three enormous waves burst 
over the hapless lady, mutilating her sadly, and, says the origi- 
ginal, " breaking one of her eyes ;" she then fled toward the sea, 
to hide her deformity, but the waters, now loosened from their 
source, still followed, till she reached the Inbher, or present 
mouth of the river. This Boan was the mother of Aengus 
Mac An Daghda, a celebrated Tuatha De Danaan chieftain, of 
whom we shall have to speak hereafter, and who is thus re- 
ferred to in an old Irish poem, enumerating the fairy palaces 
of Ireland: 

" I visited that glorious dome that stands 
By the dark rolling waters of the Boyne, 
Where Aengus Oge magnificently dwells." 

Dabella, the lapdog of Boan, shared, it is said, the fate of its 
mistress, and was swept out on the rushing waves of the Boyne 
to the sea, where it was transformed into the rocks since called 
Da Billian, which rise above the water at the Boyne's mouth. 
Notwithstanding the watery grave thus assigned by the poet 
Kenneth O'Hartigan, in the Book of Ballymote, to the wife of 
Nectain, her monument is recorded by the ancient poets and 
topographers among those of the great royal cemetery of 
Brugh na Boinne. Thus in the Senchas na Relec, or History 
of the Irish Cemeteries, we find enumerated : " The grave of 
Boinne, the wife of Nechtain ; it was she took with her the 
small hound called Dabilla, from which Gnoc Dabilla is called." 
So many versions of this story have come down to us, that, 
without attaching any credence to the legend, we are forced to 
receive the fact of the name of the river having been derived 
from an Irish princess named Boinn, Boan, or Boann. Similar 
legends are related of the origin of Lough Neagh, and several 
other lakes and rivers. 

The well is famed for its medicinal virtues, and there is a 
Pattern, or Patron, still held there on Trinity Sunday. 

It is said that Bo was the original name of the river, and 
that where it meets the river Finnabhainn, of Sliabh-Guaire, — 



* For a particular account of this " unhallowed round" see Toland's Druids, 
p. 143; and Martin's Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, p. 20. 



26 THE poets' reward. 

in all probability the Blackwater, — near Navan, is the place 
properly called Boan. Bigh is also one of the ancient names 
of the Boyne, and means the wrist or fore-arm. It is thus ex- 
plained. Boan, the wife of Nectain, wore her wrist adorned 
with bracelets and other ornaments, with which she rewarded 
poets or rhymers ; and in one of the ancient manuscripts of 
the Brehon laws, still preserved in the library of our Univer- 
sity, we find the following notice of this princess: " The righ 
of the wife of Nuada was covered with rings of gold, for bestow- 
ing them on poets :" and this explains how the word Kigh came 
to be applied to the river Boyne, in some of our old poems 
and metrical romances. This river, probably after Boan was 
drowned in it, took the name of her Righ, or fore-arm, because 
of the inspiration which its beauties imparted to the poets of 
after ages.* 

Livy says the Tiber was first called the Albuda, and conti- 
nued to be so till Tiberius was drowned therein. The river 
Eithne, now the Inny, in Westmeath, is accused of having 
drowned Eithne, the daughter of King Eochy Feileach, and 
wife of Conor Mac Nessa, King of Ulster. Many other instances 
of the names of rivers being derived from distinguished persons 
might be adduced. 

* See also Dr. Petrie's Inquiry into the Origin and Uses of the Round Towers 
of Ireland, pp. 103, 113. 



27 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM CARBURY TO CLONARD. 

CARBURY; ITS ANCIENT HISTORY, HILL, AND CASTLE.— GENEALOGY OF THE DUKE OF WEL- 
LINGTON.— THE BOYNE'S PROGRESS THROUGH THE KING'S COUNTY.— EDENDERRY.— RUINS OF 
MONASTEROR1S.— THE BERMINGHAMS.— ALTERATION OF ENGLISH INTO IRISH NAMES.— RETURN 
TO KTLDARE.— KINNAFAD CASTLE.— A BATTLE FIELD ; THE MEN WHO FOUGHT THERE, AND 
THEIR WEAPONS.— GRANGE.— THE HILL OF CARRICK ; ITS CHURCH, WELL, AND CASTLE.— VIEW 
OF THE PLAINS OF LEINSTER.— TOBERAULIN.— LADY WELL.— IRISH HOLY WELLS.— BALLT- 
BOGAN ; ITS CHURCH AND PRIORY. 

The Hill of Carbury, which rises to a considerable height 
above the surrounding plains, forms a conspicuous object from 
all sides ; and the ruins of the ancient castle, which still rest 
upon its north-eastern shoulder, are some of the finest of their 
kind in Ireland, and form a most imposing object as we approach 
from Enfield. The elevation, the total want of surrounding- 
wood, and the tall, graceful chimneys and gables of the modern 
or Elizabethan portion of this edifice, give it an air at once 
tasteful and commanding. 




The accompanying sketch, taken from the south-east, affords 
a very good idea of the style, magnitude, and general extent of 
this once noble building, which is now a complete ruin ; the 
length of the line of the southern wall figured above is alone 



28 RUINS OF CASTLE CARBURY. 

100 feet, and the general view of the castle, upon our first ap- 
proach, with its chimneys, narrow pointed gables, and large 
stone- sashed windows, is that of one of the best specimens of 
the castellated mansions of about the time of James I., which 
we know of in this country, combining lightness, taste, and 
comfort, with strength and durability. The eastern front, 
which measures sixty feet, still remains with several of its 
mullioned windows, even yet quite perfect, and upon a gentle 
slope leading down from its walls on this side may still be traced 
the vestiges of a garden, with a few of its flowers, now wild and 
neglected, mingling with the rank florin-grass with which 
it is surrounded. In fact everything about this ruin bears 
evidence of ladies fair as well as valiant knights having inha- 
bited it. Such is the impression made by this ruin from a 
glance at its external face, particularly from the point of view 
from which the drawing figured on the other side was taken ; 
but upon a closer inspection, and an internal examination, we 
perceive from the character of the masonry, the massive walls, 
the deep, stone-roofed donjons, the principal of which runs for 
eighty-five feet underneath the great keep, from south to 
north, the manifest antiquity of the entire of the western end, 
and the general arrangement of the whole, that the present 
ruin consists of the remains of structures very much older than 
the early part or middle of the sixteenth century; indeed some 
of them would appear to be as old as the twelfth century, and 
there are remains of walls of great thickness, built with rubble 
masonry, and grouted, extending even beyond the confines of 
the present ruin to the north-west. The modern additions all 
exist on the opposite side, and their later date is at once ma- 
nifest. Four of the chimneys, three of which are in the eastern 
front, have sixteen sides, and are like some of the chimneys of 
English castles, built about the year 1530, being beautifully 
wrought and moulded at top. Owing to the various additions 
at different ages, the plan of Carbury Castle is very irregular, 
and its history, which will be found somewhat farther on in this 
chapter, will in some measure account for the various erections 
manifested in the ruins. A short distance from the castle we 
find a modern burial-ground, chiefly occupied with the remains 
of members of the Pomeroy family. 

Toward the summit of this beautifully verdant hill of Car- 
bury, which rises gradually from the surrounding plains, and 



CAIRBRE O'KIERDHA. 29 

leading southward from the castle, we meet with some ancient 
pagan remains of considerable extent; and still more south- 
wards, towards the Edenderry road, we light upon the old 
church and graveyard of Temple Doath, or Caille, probably 
the site of the ancient church of St. Muadnat, Virgin, men- 
tioned by Colgan.* This is a fairy hill, as its Irish name im- 
plies, and its Pagan remains seem to have escaped the attention 
of our modern antiquarians. It appears to have been the Tara 
of north Leinster, and is well worthy of attention. "f Upon its 
top we find a small sepulchral mound, and to the north-west of 
this two remarkable military forts or raths, both very perfect, 
and one of considerable extent ; but they are not even marked 
in the Ordnance Map, accurate as it is in all other respects. 

We know of no locality so celebrated as the barony and hill 
of Carbery or Carbury, about which there has been so much 
discussion, and concerning which there is still so much discre- 
pancy among Irish writers.^ There are at least four districts 
of this name in Ireland, all celebrated in history, ancient and 
modern. Carbery, in the county of Cork, a scene in which has 
been commemorated in Dean Swift's poem of " Carberise 
Rupes ;" Carbery, in Longford, where we still find Sliabh 
Cairbre, and in which the magnificent moat of Granard stands ; 
Carbery, in Sligo, where Drumcliff is situated ; and that now 
under examination in Kildare. The investigation carried on 
by Mr. O'Donovan and his assistants in connexion with the 
Ordnance Survey, § has, however, thrown new light upon the 
subject, and settled the question of the topography of that 

* Acta Sanctorum, p. 339. 

f The Tara of ancient Leinster was Dun-Aillinne, near old Kilcullen, where 
the largest fort in that province is still to be seen. 

J From the difficulty attending the investigation, the same discrepancy has 
crept into the topographical notes to the earlier volumes of our modern so- 
cieties, the Archaeological and Celtic. See notes to the Leabhar-na-g Ceart, 
or Book of Rights ; and the references to Carbury in The Battle of Magh Bath, 
pp. 138 and 148. See also The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach, pp. 276, 
474 ; and also the Miscellany, p. 144, n., all translated and annotated by 
Mr. O'Donovan, and published by the Irish Archaeological Society. 

§ But for the information acquired during that great national work, the re- 
cords of which are preserved in the Ordnance Office at Mountjoy Barracks, 
Phoenix Park, it would have been quite impossible for the editors of the va- 
rious historic and archaeological works which are now being produced in Ire- 
land, to have written those full and critical topographical notes with which 
these works abound. 



30 THE IRISH POETS, O'DUGAN AND O'HEERIN. 

Carbury most celebrated in ancient Irish writings, and decided 
that this barony in Kildare was the Cairbre Ui Ciardha of our 
most trustworthy historians, and that particularly alluded to 
by the Irish poets, O'Dugan and O'Heerin, of whom the former 
flourished in the latter part of the fourteenth, and the latter 
in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and gave topogra- 
phical and historical descriptions of some of our most memo- 
rable localities.* O'Dugan says that O'Kiery (now Keary) was 
lord of this territory, and the only chief of the descendants of 
Niall of the Nine Hostages, king of Ireland in the fifth cen- 
tury, located in Leinster. The translation of the passage re- 
ferred to runs thus : 

" O'Kiery o'er Carbury of the Clergy, 
Of the tribes of Niall of the Nine Hostages, 
There are but themselves (i. e. O'Kierys) there to the east, 
Of the descendants of Niall in Leinster." 

This locality has many interesting historical recollections 
connected with it, too long, however, for insertion here. 
O'Heerin, the topographical historian and poet, contemporary 
with the celebrated Giolla Isa Mor Mac Firbis, thus alludes 
to it: 

" Over Carbury of Leinster of the plains 
Rules O'Keary of the recl-bladed swords, 
The scion of Almhain, without scarcity in the east, 
By whom battles were kindled round Croghan." 

The castle of Carbury was originally built by the family of 
Bermingham, the descendants of Pierce De Bermingham, one 
of the early English settlers in Ireland, of whom some account 
is given a little farther on, in the description of Monasteroris. 
It suffered greatly at the time of the civil wars in Ireland, par- 
ticularly during the fifteenth century, and was constantly the 
scene of strife in those forays which took place between the 
English barons within the Pale and the western Irish chief- 
tains. In 1447 " Castle Carbury was re-edified by the lord 
ffurnival" (Furnival). In 1466 Meath was the seat of war, 
and in one of the skirmishes between Teige O' Conor and the 
Earl of Desmond, the latter was taken prisoner and conveyed 

* O'Dugan died in 1372, and O'Heerin in 1420. See also the Abbe 
Mac Geoghegan's Account of the Rebellion of Carbre, History of Ireland, 
vol. i. p. 200. 



JUSTICE TO IRELAND IX 1546. 31 

by that chieftain, his captor and kinsman, to Castle Carbury, 
together with several of the English nobles and ecclesiastics. 
The celebrated Eed Hugh O'Donnell, when laying waste Aleath 
and Leinster in 1475, " demolished and burned Castle Carbury 
and Ballymeyler."" So late as 1546 we read that " the plains 
of Cairbre and Castle Carbury were plundered and burned" 
by some of the Irish insurgents, particularly the O'Kellys, 
the O'Aladdens, and O'Conors. The mode in which this out- 
rage was punished by the high legal functionary of the Govern- 
ment is highly characteristic of the time. " When," say the 
Annals, " the Lord Justice, Anthony St. Ledger, heard of this. 
he came into Offaly and plundered and burned the country as 
far as the Togher of Cruoghan ;" and again, ''the Lord Justice 
came a second time into Offaly, and remained fifteen days in 
the country, plundering and spoiling it, burning churches and 
monasteries, and destroying crops and corn." These notices, 
from authentic history, afford us some idea of the state of this 
country in the middle of the sixteenth century ; of the mode 
taken by its governors to suppress crime, and to gain the affec- 
tions of the Irish chiefs and people. The modern part of the 
present castle must have been erected long since these days, 
probably in 1548, and appears to have fallen gradually into 
decay. After the Berminghams it passed into the possession 
of the Cowleys, an English family, the great ancestors of the 
Duke of Wellington.* From whatever side we approach, it 

* The Hero of Waterloo boasts that he has not a drop of Irish or Milesian 
blood in his veins, and, so far as the old Irish stock is concerned, he certainly 
has not (except perhaps a slight collateral rill through the Cusacks of Cushins- 
town), no more than many other noblemen and gentlemen connected with 
Ireland, -whom the Times calls Celts. For the following pedigree we are in- 
debted to o\vc learned friend, John O'Donovan: 

"I. Sir Henry Collet/, or Cowley, son of Walter Cowley, Esq., Surveyor- 
General of Ireland (patent 5th November, 1548), was evidently the last builder, 
re-edifier, or modifier of Castlecarbury. He was a captain in the army of 
Queen Elizabeth, and a Privy Councillor in Ireland. He married Catherine, 
daughter of Sir Thomas Cusack of Cushinstown, county of Meath, and bad by 
her Sir George Colley of Edenderry, wbo became extinct in tbe male line, and. 

"II. Sir Henry Colley of Castlecarbury, who was Constable of the Fort of 
Philipstown, Seneschal of the King's County, and Providore of the army, in the 
year 1561. He married Anne, the daughter of Adam Loftus. Archbishop of 
Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, by whom he had, 

" III. Sir Henry Colley of Castlecarbury. who married Anne, daughter and 
heiress of Christopher Peyton. Esq. He died in 1637. leaving, 

'•IV. Dudley Colley. Esq.. of Castlecarbury, Member of Parliament for 






32 IS WELLINGTON AN IRISHMAN? 

forms a noble picture, and such is its elevation that it can be 
seen upon a clear day from Poul-a-Phouca, in the county of 
Wicklow. 

From the summit of this hill of Carbury, which is one of a 
series of gentle elevations that rise out of the extensive plains of 
Leinster, we gain a most commanding and extensive prospect, 
extending over the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Car low, 
Westmeath, King's and Queen's Counties, with the hills of 
Allen, Carrick, Balrennet, Edenderry, andCroghan, standing up 



Philipstown, in the first Parliament after the restoration of Charles II. He died 
in July, 1674. He married Anne, daughter of Henry Warren, Esq., county 
of Kildare, by whom he had many children, and among others his son and heir, 

" V. Henry Collet/, Esq., of Castlecarbury , who died in 1700 ; he mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Sir William Ussher, of Dublin, and had Henry Col- 
ley, Esq., whose issue became extinct, and, 

" VI. Richard Colley, Esq., who, according to O'Connell, ' used to be pick- 
ing potatoes after the crows in the county of Meath.' He succeeded in 1728 to 
the estates of his cousin, Garrett Wellesley, Esq., of Dangan, county of Meath, 
the head of an Anglo-Irish family of ancient respectability, and assumed the 
name and arms of Wellesley. He was elevated to the peerage of Ireland the 9 th 
of July, 1746, by the title of Baron Mornington. He married, in 1719, Eliza- 
beth, daughter of John Sale, Esq., Registrar of the diocese of Dublin ; and, 
dying in 1758, left, 

" VII. Garrett, second Baron of Mornington, who, on the 2nd of October, 
1760, was raised to the dignities of Viscount Wellesley of Dangan Castle, and 
Earl of Mornington. He died in 1781. He married, on the 6th of February, 
1759, Anne, daughter of Arthur, first Viscount Dungannon, and had, 

"VIII. 1. Richard, Marquis of Wellesley. 
"2. William, Baron Maryborough. 
" 3. Arthur, Duke of Wellington. 
"4. Gerald Valerian, D. D., Chaplain to King William IV." 

See Dean Butler's notes to Grace's Annals of Ireland, p. 47, where it is 
stated tbat the Wellesley s were descended from the standard-bearer of Henry II. 
See also the notice of Laracor, in chapter iv. of this work. 

Many distinguished generals and military men of high renown and true Mi- 
lesian blood have, however, figured in foreign service. Among these may be 
mentioned the following, taken without selection from a host of other illustrious 
names : 

Trophine Gerard, Compte et Marquis de Lally Tolendal (Tulnadaly, near 
Tuam), peer of Prance and minister of state : so illustrious during Napoleon's 
time. His father and grandfather were equally distinguished in the service of 
the French kings. 

General Charles Count O'Donell, of the Austrian service, who was mortally 
wounded in the battle of Neresheim, in October, 1805. 

Henry O'Donnell, Conde d'Abesbal, general in the Spanish service, who dis- 
tinguished himself at the famous siege of Gerona in 1809. See Napier's His- 



DISTINGUISHED IRISH OFFICERS. 33 

like so many acropoles amidst the deep pasture and meadow- 
lands rich beyond description, and diversified by green hedge- 
rows and occasional plantations, which stretch along the Boyne as 
far as the eye can reach; with the ruins of some of the ancient 
castles of the Anglo-Normans bursting through the surround- 
ing foliage. Towards the north-east, on the approach from En- 
field we see the tall tower of Mylerstown castle, another strong- 
hold of the Berminghanis* already referred to ; and in the parish 

tory of the Peninsular War, and Annals of the Peninsular War, vol. ii. p. 
272. 

Marshal Mac Donald, of the Connaught sept, so renowned during Napoleon's 
wars. 

Don Carlos O'Donnel, general in the Spanish service during the Peninsular 
war. See Annals of the Peninsular War, vol. iii. p. 147. 

Leopold O'Donnel, Count de Lucena, General Governor of Cuba in 1848. 

Maurice Count O'Donnel of Tirconnell, a general in the Austrian service. 
Now living. 

Count Manus O'Donnell, major-general in the Austrian service, who died 
in 1793. 

Connell Count O'Donnell, field marshal in the Austrian service, who com- 
manded the imperial army at the battle of Torgan, after Count Daun was 
wounded. He died in 1771. 

John Count O'Donnell, a general in the same service. He was the brother 
of the foregoing. 

Alexander Count O'Reilly, generalissimo of His Catholic Majesty's forces, 
captain-general of Andalusia, and civil and military governor of Cadiz, about 
the year 1786. 

Andrew Count O'Reilly, general of cavalry in the Austrian service, who 
died in 1832. 

We have also, in the service of the Autocrat of Russia, two distinguished 
members of the house of West Breffney, ever ready to crush democracy and re- 
publicanism : Joseph Prince O'Rourke, general-in-chief in the Russian empire ; 
and Patrick Count O'Rourke, a colonel in the same service. 

There are also in the Austrian service several of the Kavanaghs of Dermot 
Mac Murrough's race. 

Among the descendants of the ancient Irish on the Continent may also be 
enumerated, fighting on the side of imperialism, Captain Daniel O'Connell 
O'Connor Kerry, in the Austrian service, who was commandant of Lodi in 
August, 1848. 

See also the Military History of the Irish Nation, comprising a Memoir of 
the Irish Brigade in the Service of France. By the late Matthew O'Conor, Esq. 
Dublin, 1845. 

There also some distinguished Irish officers in the Hungarian army at pre- 
sent, and among others Field Marshal Guyon (O'Guihin or Gahan), a native 
of Rathkeale, in the county of Limerick. 

* The tourist should consult the map, and also the itinerary, from time to 
time, as he follows the various windings of the Boyne. Upon leaving Enfield, 

D 



34 EDENDERRY. 

of Ardkill, about a mile from the adjoining village of Carbery, 
the foundations of another castle, of which not even the name 
now remains ; and the site of another fortress is pointed out 
near the mill in the parish of Clonkeen, midway to Edenderry : 
all showing the military importance of this district in former 
times. Edenderry, and the castles of Kinnafad and Carrick, 
form prominent objects as the eye sweeps round from south to 
west. Although the Boyne is said to rise at Trinity Well, a 
small stream which empties itself into it, and which may be 
considered the true source of the river, rises in an adjoining 
bog or marshy ground to the north of Carbury, — a branch of the 
great bog of Allen which extends towards the east, — and creep- 
ing round the base of the hill to the neighbouring demesne of 
Newberry, passes under a small bridge upon the Enfield road, 
as we enter the little village of Carbery adjoining. 

As it would be impossible (even did it possess sufficient in- 
terest) to follow the various windings of the infant Boyne 
from its source to Clonard, where the stream enlarges suffi- 
ciently to permit of navigation for small row-boats, we must 
take to the road, and avail ourselves of as many way-side 
points of interest as the ordinary modes of travelling permit. 

Our next resting-place is Edenderry, "the height or brow of 
the oaks," about midway between which and Carbery we cross 
the river by a small bridge,* forming the boundary between Kil- 
dare and King's County, which we now enter. It is a neat, well- 
built, and remarkably clean town, belonging to the Marquis of 
Downshire ; but possesses little worthy of inspection to the 
antiquarian tourist except the castle of the Blundells, the 
ancestors of its present noble possessor, which crowns its 
wooded height, and the remains of a silver-mine adjoining.f As 
we leave the town, on the road to Monasteroris, the next point 
of attraction, we pass through a suburb of small cottages, with 
well-tended gardens in front of them, characterised by a degree 
of care, neatness, cleanliness, and, above all, by an appearance 
of industry and thrift quite unusual in Ireland. These cot- 

the nearest railroad station to the Boyne's source, after passing the little vil- 
lage of Johnstown, Mylerstown castle can be seen about a mile to the right of 
the road to Carbery. It is worth inspection. 

* Rather by two bridges, for the stream- way of the Boyne has been lately 
altered here by the Board of Works. 

t For a description of Edenderry, see Fraser's admirable " Hand Book for 
Travellers in Ireland." Dublin, 1849. 



MONASTERORIS. 35 

tages are given by the Marquis of Downshire to industrious 
tradesmen and labourers at a shilling a year rent. The gene- 
ral appearance of comfort in this district at once bespeaks the 
encouraging landlord and the admirable care of the resident 
agent. The peasantry are a remarkably line, stalwart race, and 
the females particularly handsome. A very admirable road, 
through a well-cultivated country, takes us nearly parallel 
with the Boyne to our next resting-place ; a collection of ec- 
clesiastical ruins, about two miles distant from Edenderry, our 
route still continuing through the King's County. 

Monasteroris, the locality just referred to, consists of the re- 
mains of a small clrurch with a double belfry, built, probably, 
about the fourteenth century, and surrounded by an ancient 
grave-yard; to the east of this, in one of the adjoining fields, 
we find the ruins of a castellated monastery, the walls of which 
are of great strength and thickness ; and not far off, placed upon 
a mound which bears all the evidence of being artificial, and 
was probably an ancient tumulus, we observe the basement 
of a square dove-cot or pigeon-house, a usual appendage to 
the houses of the English ecclesiastics in Ireland. The accom- 
panying sketch, taken from the south, affords a tolerably good 
idea of this interesting group of ruins. 




Monasteroris, in Irish, Mainister-Feorais, the Monastery of 
Mac Forais, or Mac Pierce's Monastery, is celebrated in our 
mediaeval history, and the references to it in the works of that 
period are numerous and interesting. The manner in which 

d2 



36 A CASUS BELLI. 

this name arose is peculiar and worthy of remark. Pierce De 
Bermingham was one of the early English settlers, and received 
a large grant of land in Leinster. The surname was dropped by 
the Irish-speaking people, and the Christian name, Pierce, or 
Peter, translated into Gaelic, as Horish, or Feorais, a name which 
the descendants of the Berminghams still bear to the present day. 
The Clan-Feorais — the tribe-name of the family of Berming- 
ham — applied the Irish appellation to their territory, which was 
coextensive with the barony of Carbury, and extended along the 
Boyne, both in Kildare and King's County, as far as the borders 
of Meath.* In process of time this Anglo-Norman stock be- 
came more Irish than the Irish themselves ; they joined with 
the 0' Conors of Offally, and other Irish chieftains, and made 
fierce war upon the English settlers within the Pale at diffe- 
rent times. We have an account of the cause of one of these 
wars, given us by Dudley Firbisse: "That warr was called 
the warr of caimin, that is, an abuse that was given to the son 
of the Chiefe of the Berminghams (Hibernice, to Mac Ffeorais, 
his son), in the great court in the town of Ath-truim, by the 
Thresurer of Meath, i. e. the Barnwall's sonn, so that he did 
beate a caimin (i. e. a stroke of his finger) upon the nose of 
Mac Fforais, or Bermingham's son, which deede he was not 
worthy of, and he entering on the Earle of Ormond safe guard ; 
so that he stole afterwards out of the town, and went towards 
O' Conor Ffaly, and joined together ; and it is hard to know 
that ever was such abuse better revenged than the said Caimin ; 
and thence came the notable word (Cogadh an Caimin)."^ 
During this war the Berminghams and O'Conors "preyed and 
burnt a greate part of Meath." 

Sir John de Bermingham, Earl of Louth, founded an abbey 
in the year 1325, for conventual Franciscans, at Totmoy, in 
Offaly, the ancient name of this territory ; and from the Irish 
name of this chieftain it was called Monaster-Feoris. In 151 1, 

* See the Annals of the Four Masters, A. D. 1151, 1446, &c. ; also the An- 
nals of Ireland in the Miscellany of the Irish Archaeological Society, from p. 202 
to p. 234 ; also Archdall's Monasticon; see also O'Donovan's Dissertation on 
Irish Names, in the Irish Penny Journal, 184, edited by Dr. Petrie, and pub- 
lished by Gunn and Cameron, Dublin. 

For the possessions of John Bermingham here, in 1625, see the published 
Inquisitions, Lagenia, Kildare, 6 Car. I., and No. 92, Car. I. 

f Caimin (a stroke of the finger), i. e. a fillip on the nose. 



KINNAFAD. 37 

Cahir O'Conor, Lord of Offaly, was slain near this Monastery. 
It was a place of considerable strength, as the remains of the 
building still testify, and sustained a lengthened siege by the 
Earl of Surrey, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, when he marched 
into Offaly at the time of his expedition against the O'Moores 
of Leix, who, with other Irish chieftains, had invaded the 
borders of the Pale.* At the time of the suppression of reli- 
gious houses it was granted to Nicholas Herbert. 

Following the road which leads from Edenderry to Clo- 
nard, we again cross the Boyne, and re-enter Kildare, at the 
little bridge ofKinnafad, — Ceann-atha-fada, " the head of the 
long ford," — where the river is still inconsiderable, but the 
streamway has been widened, and its banks straightened, so 
that it here resembles a small modern canal. On crossing the 
bridge we get a view of the castle ofKinnafad, another strong- 
hold of theBerminghams, which stands in an adjoining meadow, 
and of which the accompanying is a faithful sketch. 




It is a large, square, block of building, measuring forty-seven 
feet by thirty-one on the outside, the external walls being 
still quite perfect. It appears, from its few and narrow win- 
dows, as well as its general design, to have belonged to an ear- 
lier era than the modern part of the castle of Carbury, when 
strength influenced the builder more than attention to comfort. 

Although the river is but inconsiderable for the first few 
miles of its course, still, from the difficulty of crossing it ex- 
cept at certain points, these were generally defended with great 

* Harris's History of Dublin, p. 290 ; also Archdall's Monasticon, p. 403. 



38 



RECENTLY DISCOVERED ANTIQUITIES. 



care and forethought. Thus at every ford and pass, or bridge, if 
such existed at the time, some castle was erected. This was in 
all probability the cause of the position of Kinnafad Castle, 
which stands beside a shallow in the river, which the local tra- 
ditions say was often the scene of fierce conflict. 
# A few months ago, in deepening the bed of the 
river, and in some places altering its course 
altogether, so as to cut off the angles and render 
its stream-way straighter, as we already ob- 
served, near Edenderry, the workmen dug up 
here some human remains, as well as those of 
a horse, and several weapons of exceeding in- 
terest indeed. Through the kindness of a friend, 
we are enabled to have some of these figured in 
this work.* 

The remains consisted of the skeleton and 
iron shoes of a horse, several portions of human 
skeletons, and two very perfect skulls. With 
these were found divers iron and bronze 
weapons, — a cir- 
cumstance of con- 
siderable interest, 
for although it was 
rumoured that such 





had been very frequently found together, no well-authen- 
ticated instance of it has been heretofore recorded. These 
weapons, which are here represented, consist of, — No. 7, a 
very perfect straight, short sword of iron, the most beautiful 
of its kind yet discovered ; it is twenty-two inches and a half 



Mr. Murray of Edenderry, Lord Downshire's agent. 



THE WEAPONS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH. 39 

long; the blade, which measures upwards of seventeen inches, 
is very narrow in the middle and towards the handle, but, in- 
creasing suddenly towards the top, it forms a very obtuse point, 
an inch and a quarter broad. A sword of the same character, 
but not so perfect, was found in the excavations lately made in 
the Shannon. Some swords of the same type, but shorter, and 
with parallel edges, were a few years ago found at Dunshaughlin. 
See page 15. Ancient iron swords are much rarer than bronze 
ones ; until very lately there was scarcely one to be found in 
any of our collections ; we have now four distinct forms of 
them: — that just described, which is the rarest; a shorter, 
sharp-edged sword, very like the ancient Eoman ; the heavy, 
broad-bladed sword, with a narrow and ornamented handle, 
supposed to be Danish ; and the long, straight iron sword, which 
varies in size in different specimens, and of which a fragment 
of one found at Kinnafad is figured here, No. 8. This is evi- 
dently of later date than any of the others. 

The brazen sword- blades found in Ireland may be classed 
under two heads : the long, narrow, straight one, tapering from 
the handle to the point, like the modern small sword; and that 
with a broad belly, swelling towards the end, resembling the an- 
cient Grecian or Phoenician.* With the two iron swords here fi- 
gured were found two very perfect spear-heads also of iron, Nos. 
1 and 6, and with such small sockets that we are at a loss to know 
what description of wood, except perhaps yew, was used for their 
handles. The brazen weapons found in connexion with these 
consist of the blade of a dagger, No. 2, and two bronze hatch- 
ets, commonly called celts, Nos. 3 and 5, a sort of war-axe, 
which was fastened on the end of a curved stick. That figured 
as No. 5 is a particularly fine specimen, and ornamented on the 
sides. The other is remarkable from its exceeding lightness, 
showing the great quantity of tin of which the antique metal 
in this instance is composed. The cut No. 4 shows one of the 
horse-shoes. It is peculiar in shape, remarkably oval, and 



* Specimens of all these antiquities will be found in the Museum of the 
Koyal Irish Academy, which is open to every person desirous of becoming ac- 
quainted with these subjects ; and the able Curator of which, Mr. Clibborn, the 
best public officer which any institution ever possessed, takes delight in show- 
ing the collection to strangers. Those intending to visit the Boyne, or any 
other locality of archaeological interest in Ireland, should first visit the great 
national collection at the Academv. 



40 



SKULLS OF THE EARLY IRISH PEOPLE. 



convex on the under side, as may be learned from the position 
of the small cocks and the nail groove, showing that it was in- 
tended for the field, not the road. That bronze and iron wea- 
pons have not been more frequently found together is to us a 
matter of surprise, for they must have been long in use toge- 
ther, and we have reason to believe bronze weapons were used 
to a very late period indeed. 

It is, we think, a fair inference, to suppose that all these 
weapons were employed by the belligerents who fell at the pass 
of Kinnafad: can we form a conjecture as to who they were? 
Upon the races of men who fell in this encounter we certainly 
can speculate with some degree of plausibility. In the ethnolo- 
gical inquiry, at chapter ix. of this work, the question of the early 
races of Irishmen is discussed ; there it will be seen that we 
have strong evidence in support of the idea that two races, totally 
distinct in feature and form of head, formerly existed in this 
country, and probably fought for the mastery ; — a long-headed 
people, with thick, narrow crania, low foreheads,proj ecting noses, 
deep, square orbits, high cheek-bones, prominent mouths, and 
narrow chins, — probably the first settlers or original stock, 
low in intellect, dark-haired, strong-bodied, hardy, and coura- 
geous. The other a round or globular-headed race, with fea- 
tures not so marked, but evidently possessing more intellect, 





and who were probably the conquerors of the former. Exam- 
ples of both races, particularly the former, may still be found 
among some of the modern Irish. Two such heads—well- 
marked specimens of their kind — were found, along with the 



GRANGE CASTLE. 41 

weapons and antiquities described, at Kinnafad. They are 
represented in the accompanying wood-cuts. The long head 
is quite perfect, and has a sword-cut on the crown. The base of 
the skull and face has been broken off the specimen of the glo- 
bular head. Is it unnatural to suppose that these people fought 
with the weapons by which their remains were found sur- 
rounded ? 

It is now more than five years since we first drew attention to 
this subject, and promulgated the idea as to the two races which 
originally inhabited this country ; and it is pleasing to find 
that every instance of human remains since discovered in Ire- 
land is confirmatory of the views we then put forward.* 

Upon the northern side of the river, in the King's Count v, 
there is little worthy of inspection, except the ruined castle 
of Clonmore, not far distant from the Yellow Eiver, a stream 
which empties itself into the Boyne, about midway between 
Edenderry and Clonard, and forms the boundary between the 
King's County and Meath. 

T\Te are now upon the right bank of the Boyne, passing, by 
a smooth and admirably kept road, through deep meadows, 
bordered by luxuriant hedge-rows, particularly of white thorn, 
which blooms here in great beauty. About a mile from Kin- 
nafad castle, and half a mile from the Boyne, the road passes 
by the castle of Grange, a fortalice of a somewhat later age 
than that just described, and a part of which is still inhabited 
by one of the Tyrrells, a family of repute in the ancient kingdom 
of Meath. TTe have not been able to discover any references 
to either of these two buildings in the historic annals, and it 
is probable their history has not been preserved in the rolls of 
time. 

TTe next ascend the sloping hill of Carrick, — one of those 
high places in the great plains of Leinster which we already 
saw from the hill of Carbury. From the top of this elevation 
we again obtain a most commanding and extensive prospect of 
the well- wooded and highly-cultivated plains of Meath and 
King's County, forming one vast undulating sea of green ; — 
a truly glorious land, rich and fair ; gazing upon it we won- 
der not at the tenacity with which our fathers clung to it, nor 

* See a Lecture on the Ethnology of the Ancient Irish, delivered at the Col- 
lege of Physicians in 184-1, and originally published in the Dublin Literary 
Journal. 



42 THE HILL OF CARRICK. 

at the efforts made by the invaders to possess it; neither can 
we wonder at the peasant's love for it; — we are now only asto- 
nished how poverty, misery, and starvation even unto death, 
can exist in any corner of the island with such a garden as 
this within it.* 

This hill, though not mentioned in history, that we have 
been able to discover, must, not only from its situation, but 
from the traditions in the neighbourhood, — the rock deno- 
minated the Witch's Stone, and some slight vestiges of archi- 
tectural remains upon its summit (probably those of a her- 
mit's cell), — have been a place of note in very ancient times, 
antecedent to the date of the ruins which at present exist 
upon it. It is said that a considerable town once stood at 
the base of its north-eastern side, where there is now a vast 
limestone quarry. The extensive woods of Ballindoolan stretch 
down from its summit towards the north, and upon the 
south-eastern brow of the hill adjoining, the more direct road 
to Edenderry, we find another group of ruins, the church and 
castle figured upon the opposite page. 

The hill of Carrick (the Rock), which very much resembles 
that of Carbury, and commands a similar extent and beauty of 
prospect, derives its name from a large block of trap rock, 
called " the Witch's Stone," which stands upon its northern 
brow, just over the great limestone quarry. It is evidently the 
same kind of stone as the large mass of trap which is to be found 
about ten miles off, near Philipstown, to the south-west of 
this hill; but whether it is a boulder, and was carried to this 
spot — which is in the general direction of the great current 
which appears to have transported the beds of limestone gravel 
throughout Leinster — by natural means; or was transported 
there by art for some sacred purpose in early Pagan times, as 
we know was frequently the case, it is difficult to say. Upon 
the lower Boyne, near the hill of Dowth, we meet masses of com- 
pact basalt, fully as large, which must have been transported 
there by artificial means. The legend is, that a witch cast 
this stone from the hill of Croghan, at some of our early saints, 
and that it alighted here. This is a favourite and widely spread 
legend in the north of Europe ; in Scotland we find it preserved 

* While we write, we understand there are 1800 paupers in the Workhouse 
of Edenderry ! There must have been something wrong in the system which 
produced all this misery in the neighbourhood of such a fertile country. 



CARRICK-ORIS CASTLE. 



43 



in the story of the Devil throwing the hill of Dumbuck, Dum- 
barton rock, and Ailsa Craig, after St. Patrick, when he was 
flying into Ireland. 

Some mischievous quarryman split this witch's stone, by 
blasting it, a few years ago. For this wanton act he was 
obliged to leave that part of the country. 

Near the summit of the hill there is pointed out " the Mule's 
Leap," when running off with a saint from the Church of Car- 
rick. Eight holes, marking, it is said, the places of the mule's 
feet, and showing a distance of about ten yardsbetween the place 
from which it sprung and where it alighted, are still to be seen, 
and it is said that no grass ever grows upon these footprints. 
The locality is worth observing, not for the nonsensical story 
of the mule, but because there is evidence of some masonry 
— probably the foundation of an ancient oratory — existing be- 
tween the two sets of footmarks. 




As this castle still bears the local name of Carrick-Oris, we 
have a proof stronger than conjecture that it was erected by 
the Berminghams. It was originally a tall, oblong square 
tower or keep, a portion of the southern end of which is yet 
perfect, measuring about thirty-two feet in length. From the 
extent of the ruins upon the northern side, it must have been 
nearly ninety feet long : the walls are upwards of four feet 
thick. This was the court of Pierce Bermingham in 1305, and 
consequently the seat of the " treacherous baron," so bitterly 



44 THE MASSACRE OF THE O'CONORS. 

complained of by O'Neill and the Irish chieftains in their Re- 
monstrance to Pope John XXII. * 

In the Annals of the Four Masters, A. D. 1305, and also in 
James Grace's Annals of Ireland,! we learn the circumstance of 
the massacre which occurred here, and which earned for the 
inhospitable owner of the castle the opprobrious title bestowed 
on him by the Irish chieftains in 1315. 

Murtagh O' Conor, King of Offaly, and his brother Calwagh, 
with twenty- nine of their companions, were slain here by Jor- 
dan Comin, and Sir Pierce Mac Feorais, the latter of whom 
had invited them to a feast on Trinity Sunday at his castle, 
" apud Carricke in Carberia" In Mageoghegan's translation 
of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, the murder is thus alluded to : 
"A. D. 1305, Murtagh O'Connor of Offallie, Mulmorrey, his 
brother, and Calvagh O'Connor, with twenty-nine of the 
choicest of their family, were treacherously killed by Pyers 
Birmyngham, within the Castle of Carrickffeorus." In the 
Remonstrance just alluded to it is said: "The instant they 
stood up from the table he cruelly massacred them, and sold 
their heads at a dear price to their enemies ; and when he was 
arraigned before the King of England, the present king's fa- 
ther, no justice could be obtained against such a nefarious and 
treacherous offender." Can we wonder at the Irish people ac- 
knowledging the power, and seeking the interference of the 
Pope, when they could not obtain redress nearer home? 

This Pierce Bermingham was the progenitor of the Mac 
Feoris.J These references serve to fix the site of a very memo- 
rable locality hitherto unnoticed. 

The adjoining Anglo- Irish church appears to be of a date 
coeval with that still remaining at Monasteroris, — probably the 
end of the thirteenth century, — one of those long, low build- 
ings, with a belfry in the western gable, and small, narrow, 
pointed windows in the sides, of which we have so many exam- 
ples remaining. This church is forty-six feet long and twenty- 
two broad in the clear. The eastern and southern walls 
are still standing, and two small, narrow windows, deeply 



* See Memoirs of Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, pp. 59, 74. 
f Edited for the Irish Archaeological Society, by Dean Butler. See p. 48, n. e . 
j See, in addition to the remarks on this name, Dean Butler's History of 
Trim Castle, p. 31. 



THE WELL OF THE HOLY CROSS. 45 

splayed on the inside (one square and the other circular- 
headed), and evidently different in date, and the cut stones of 
which were probably used in some earlier building, as well as 
a small almery, exist in the latter. The door was in the nor- 
thern wall of the chancel, and a small, narrow window, now built 
up, a little to the left of the centre, remains in the eastern 
gable, which latter rises into a very perfect double belfry. 

There are several traditions and some curious remnants of 
superstitious usages yet remaining attached to this locality. 
The peasantry used to show a large stone, with some indenta- 
tions in it resembling the print of the hand, which they said 
was lifted by St. Columbkill. Not long ago, people were in the 
habit of carrying away from hence portions of the clay of a 
priest's grave, and using it as a cure for several diseases, a 
practice formerly in much repute, particularly in the west of 
Ireland.* 

A few hundred yards below the ruins on the hill of Carrick, 
in the angle formed by the junction of the roads leading to 
Edenderry and Carbery, we find the holy well of Tobercro, 
or Tober Crogh-neeve, the Well of the Holy Cross, a beauti- 
ful spring shaded with flowering briars and wild white roses. 
Although it is now totally neglected, and its site scarcely 
known even by the neighbouring peasantry, it was once highly 
venerated, and its virtues greatly esteemed. The water runs 
into the Boyne through the adjacent valley. See page 53. 

There are two roads leading along the river towards Clo- 
nard, on the Kildare side : the lower sweeps through the val- 
ley ; the upper, that which Ave have chosen in our present ex- 
cursion, on account of the commanding prospect which it 
affords, winds over the hill of Carrick, which we have just de- 
scribed. Proceeding northward towards the Boyne, we pass 
through a noble country with enclosed paddocks, fringed with 
well-grown timber, and exhibiting an admirable state of cul- 

This practice, which may to some of our readers appear as extraordinary 
as it is disgusting, is nevertheless frequently resorted to up to the present time. 
We have known persons in a respectable rank of life to boil the clay taken from 
the grave of Father O'Connor, in the abbey of Eoscommon, upon milk, and drink 
it, for the cure of several diseases ; and an account has been given by Dr. Pickells 
of Cork, of a female who, it was said, became seriously diseased from having 
swallowed the larvae of beetles and other insects, in making use of a similar 
remedy — See the Transactions of the College of Physicians in Ireland, vols, 
iv. and v. Also, "Our Fellow Lodgers," bv Rev. Robert Walsh, M. D. 
Dublin, 1847. 



46 IRISH HOLY WELLS ; 

tivation. Two objects claim our attention : upon the right hand 
side of the road, the site of an ancient castle, of which nothing 
now remains but a cairn of stones ; and a little farther on, Tober- 
aulin, or " the Beautiful Well," another sacred spring shaded 
by graceful thorns, near which we again join the lower road, 
which runs parallel with the river as we approach it at the 
bridge of Ballybogan. Here, at a place called Glyn, where 
three roads meet in an open space shaded by trees, — one of 
those calm, peaceful, homestead spots, so frequently met with 
in England, — we find " Lady Well," a fountain dedicated to 
" the Blessed Virgin," and a very memorable spot in days gone 
by. It immediately adjoins the road, and is shaded by a splendid 
sycamore tree, to which a few votive offerings might, in for- 
mer days, be seen attached. A fair and Patron is held here in 
harvest. 

Holy wells abound in this locality, and assist to feed the 
growing stream, so that the river becomes doubly consecrated, 
not only by the ruins of sacred edifices which cluster upon its 
banks, but through the waters which flow into it from so many 
hallowed springs. Besides the Well of Trinity, and these two 
just mentioned, we have Tobercro, and also Carbury Well, and 
not far from the point where the Yellow River pours its waters 
into the Boyne we have upon the Kildare side the Well of 
Tobernakill ; — six in all, baptizing the infant Boyne. 

The peasants' faith in the Blessed Well has ceased ; the last 
remnant of it, at least in the midland counties of Ireland, was 
obliterated by the famine. 

" Old times are changed, old manners gone.'' 

The days of rounds and penance, of vows and votive offer- 
ings, of charm and miracle, of pilgrim and boccagh, of fun 
and frolic, faction fight and whiskey, which took place at the 
Patron (i. e. the patron saint's day) at our holy wells, are 
past and gone; and, once omitted, these rites, ceremonials, 
and pastimes of the people, are seldom or never restored. 
There is scarcely a holy well in Ireland, the waters of which, 
independent of the general efficiency of the station performed 
there, either as a penance or in redemption of a vow, but 
is celebrated for its cures of particular diseases ; and this 
at which we rest, with the other wells upon the Upper Boyne, 
were famed far and wide for their sanitive efficacy. Most of 
our holy wells were objects of veneration, perhaps of worship, 



THEIR SCENERY AND LEGENDS. 47 

long prior to the spread of Christianity in Ireland, when the 
Pagan altar, the sacred grove, and Druid priest, were their 
general accompaniments ; and, therefore, it cannot be wondered 
that so many unchristian rites and ceremonies should still 
attend the practices observed there by the uneducated. 

" This may be superstition, 



But even the faintest relics of a shrine, 

Of any worship, wake some thoughts divine." 

Each holy well generally bears the name of some saint, upon 
whose festival day the Patron is celebrated ; and each has its 
legend, often of great interest both in a historical and topogra- 
phical point of view. Ancient thorns, or gnarled ash trees, clad 
with the propitiatory offerings of the pious, bend over their clear 
waters ; a certain number of oval or circular stones, used as a 
sort of beads, generally surround their margins, and a quantity 
of white pebbles are scattered over the bottom of each ; while in 
many instances a pair, or more, of sacred trout are allowed to re- 
main unmolested in these still pools. Like other shrines of reli- 
gious veneration, the virtues of our holy wells are subject to va- 
riation, remaining for years inert, and then breaking out afresh, 
upon the recital of a recently performed miracle by some cun- 
ning boccagh, or neighbouring publican : when, in defiance of 
the threatenings of the Church, the exhortation from the altar, 
and frequently of the personal influence of the Eoman Catholic 
clergyman on the spot, scenes of superstition, riot, and debauch- 
ery ensued, which would now be scarcely believed if we ven- 
tured to relate them. These wells were often not only chary of 
their powers, but very fickle in their dispositions, frequently 
changing their localities, from their waters having been pro- 
faned by the irreligious or diseased, and springing up next 
morning in a different spot ; or, like the Boyne in more mi- 
raculous times, bursting forth from their rocky prisons, and 
overwhelming in their waters their sacrilegious polluters. The 
pilgrim was allowed to drink at the well itself, but he was not 
permitted to wash, except in the stream which flowed from it; 
and most of the instances of the change of locality among our 
holy wells is attributed to some diseased person having been 
bathed in their waters, and for which offence the saint's dis- 
pleasure has been generally manifested. 

We require a book upon the holy wells of Ireland. Such 



48 A SUBJECT FOR A PAINTER. 

a work would be instructive, amusing, and popular. If illus- 
trated by a good artist, capable of feeling such subjects, and 
drawing them with fidelity, — a Petrie or a Burton, — it would 
greatly assist the study of the antiquary, and such embellish- 
ments would afford the fireside reader a series of some of the 
most charming scenes which this country possesses. Amidst the 
wildest glens, among the most savage rocks, on bare mountain 
tops, surrounded by savage grandeur, or located by the quiet 
homestead in the cultivated plain ; embosomed among aged trees 
in the sequestered valley; o'ershadowed by the ruined church 
or abbey wall, or guarded by the ancient sculptured cross ; with 
the drooping thorn, or the ragged ash, hung with the offerings 
of the pilgrim, stretching its arms over the crystal fountain; — 
these venerated spots may be found in abundance; and with 
some " Blind Girl" or burly boccagh kneeling by their waters, 
the artist will find subjects for his pencil of surpassing interest. 
And the author in his description of these ancient and roman- 
tic sites of religious veneration or medical superstition, — by 
inquiring into their Pagan origin, recounting the legends at- 
tached to each, so illustrative of ancient manners, and elu- 
cidating popular traditions which are becoming hourly ob- 
scured; in telling something about the saint to whom each 
is dedicated, and of the rites and ceremonies, the rounds, 
prayers, and all the formulae (generally self-imposed) which 
are there gone through, by the pious pilgrim, the devout 
penitent, the faithful valetudinarian, or the paid representa- 
tive, together with some notices of the humours, fights, and 
frolic of the Patron, its tents and pipers, beggars, rogues, and 
gamblers, — could not fail to interest his readers.* 

* A little work was produced some years ago, called " The Holy Wells of 
Ireland," from which title the reader might suppose that some, if not all, the 
subjects alluded to in the foregoing passages were treated of. Such, however, 
is not the fact. It is a mere tirade against Popery, for which purpose alone it 
appears to have been compiled. Its descriptions are almost entirely made up 
of extracts from the works of Inglis, Caesar Otway, Carleton, Crofton Croker, 
and other modern Irish writers. 

The Annals of the Four Masters, now in process of translation and annota- 
tion by O' Donovan, and which, when complete, will form the great ground- 
work for all future Irish histories, contain numerous descriptions and accurate 
references to the origin and names of our Irish wells ; and the great local and 
topographical knowledge of the learned commentator renders these accounts 
of immense value. Cambrensis and his commentators, Holinshed and Richard 



MATERIALS FOR A BOOK. 49 

The materials for a work of this description abound in such 
quantities that the only difficulty is in selection. Almost 
every barony possesses several holy wells. The Lives of the 
Saints, and the Irish Annals and early histories, are profuse in 
their references to our " blessed wells ;" but it is only by visit- 
ing these spots upon patron days, by culloguing with the neigh- 
bouring shanaghies, and by appearing to give credence, in 
addition to tobacco, to the priestess of the well, that the legen- 
dary lore of such can be acquired, or their traditional romance 
preserved. 

In the Irish ballad poetry of the last few years we find se- 
veral charming songs upon our holy wells ; in particular we 
would instance those by our friend, Samuel Ferguson, Esq., 

Stanihurst, may be consulted, particularly with reference to the legendary tales 
and mode of performing stations at Patrick's Purgatory and other holy wells 
and places of religious resort in their day; as also Camden, Hanmer, and other 
writers of that time ; but it must always be borne in mind with what prejudices 
these writers were possessed, for what end and under what influence they wrote, 
as well as the exceeding ignorance of the Irish language which they exhibit. 
Dr. Lynch's Cambrp.nsis Eversus, lately translated and commented on by the 
Rev. Matthew Kelly, and published by the Celtic Society, should be carefully 
consulted. All the publications of our Archaeological Society abound with 
materials which might be made use of with effect, particularly the translation 
of Nennius, by the Rev. Dr. Todd and the Hon. Algernon Herbert, especially 
that portion of it upon the " "Wonders of Ireland, according to the Book of 
Glendalough." Dr. O'Conor's third letter, published in his Columbanus ad 
Hibernos, contains many interesting particulars on the subject of Irish well- 
worship, and will show our English readers what the opinions of an educated 
and intelligent Irish Roman Catholic priest were on the subject. Richardson's 
"Great Folly, Superstition, and Idolatry of Pilgrimages in Ireland," published 
in 1727, should be read; and also Barnaby Ryche's very scarce " Descrip- 
tion of Ireland, 1624," where the reader will find many curious matters 
connected with our vulgar superstitions generally, and the holy wells of 
Dublin in particular. The manuscript letters preserved in the Library of the 
Ordnance Survey, contain much valuable information. The Dublin and 
Irish Penny Journals afford notices of many blessed wells ; and in the last 
volume will be found a most charming paper on the subject, by Petrie, under 
the head of " St. Senan's Well." We have to express our great obligation to 
Mr. Hackett of Middleton, and to Mr. Windele of Cork, for having furnished 
us with several interesting topographical descriptions and a quantity of legen- 
dary lore connected with this subject. 

We have written this note in the hope of eliciting further information, as well 
as directing attention to this curious subject ; and should we find leisure and 
inclination to continue the " Irish Popular Superstitions," two parts of which 
have already appeared in the Dublin University Magazine (Nos. for May and 
June, 1849), we will devote a chapter to our blessed wells. 

E 



50 RELIGIOUS BELIEF IN HOLY WELLS. 

and also ones by Mr. Fraser and Mr. Teeling ;* but most of 
the poems upon these our sacred fountains assign to them a 
fairy origin, an idea not by any means popular among the 
people, who are generally acquainted with the saintly legends 
attached to them ; by what patriarch of the Irish Church they 
were blessed or cursed ; what miracles they have wrought ; on 
what days they are to be resorted to ; and what prayers are to 
be repeated at them ; — circumstances never connected with the 
fort or rath, the cave, or hill, or glen, — the true fairy ground. 
The following lines, characteristic of the Irish people's reli- 
gious belief in blessed wells, have been forwarded to us by a 
lady, while these pages were passing through the press : 

" Thou chosen spring of sacred gift ! — 

By prayer and penance blest ! — 
Jlere, on thy knee- worn margin, let 

My wand'rings find a rest. 
I would not pass thee heedlessly, 

Or deem, with scoffing thought, 
That God hath, thro' thy hallow'd drops, 

No healing wonders wrought. 
With solemn pause I gaze upon 

Thy surface calm and pure, 
Recalling days when simple souls 
In faith found simplest cure ! 

" Who knows thou art unsanctified, 

And hast no salving pow'r ? 
Let me, at least, revere thee now, 

In thy deserted hour. 
Perchance, when angry justice frown 'd 

On sinning sons of earth, 
The Virgin's interposing tears 

First gave thee heav'nly birth ? 
Or were thy waters angel-stirr'd, 

For humble suff'rers' weal ? 
Be blessed still! — and may I too 

In thee my sorrows heal !" 

To return to the stream of our discourse. The sedgy, slug- 
gish river is here crossed by the first bridge of any note which 
we meet with upon the Boyne, and leads to Ballybogan, " the 

* See The Spirit of the Nation ; the Book of Irish Ballads, by D. F. 
M'Carthy ; The Ballad Poetry of Ireland, by C. G. Duffy ; the Poems of 
Thomas Davis, &c. 



BALLYBOGAN. 5 1 

town of O'Bogan, 1 ' an insignificant village upon the northern 
side of the river. 

Upon this, the Meath side, and a little to the north-west of 
the bridge, are the ruins of one of the largest churches and 
monasteries, except those of Trim, Slane, Bective, or Drogheda, 
which we meet with in our downward course ; and if indeed 
the domiciliary buildings (of which nothing but the foundations 
now exist) were in proportion to the church, the former must 
have been very extensive, for the latter is of great magnitude. 
The accompanying engraving, taken from the south-east, shows 
all that now remains of the church or priory of Ballybogan, 
which is pleasingly situated in a rich meadow, surrounded by 
trees, on the river's bank. The church was originally cruciform, 
but the transept has been entirely destroyed on both sides. The 
nave and choir measure 193 feet in the clear, and are twenty- 
six feet broad. So very little architectural decoration is to be 




found, either in the walls which are still standing, or among 
the surrounding rubbish, that we cannot believe it was ever 
highly decorated. Over the western entrance there was a tall, 
narrow window, without mullions or cross-bars, the arch of 
which, as well as those of the east window, exhibit the transi- 
tion from the circular to the pointed style. In the northern wall 
of the choir three sedilia, with trefoil arches, yet remain; and 
attached to the outer wall of the chancel, upon the same side, 
there is a very curious little building, apparently a vestry or 
robing-room. 

This priory was almost exclusively English. It is mentioned 
e 2 



52 IRISH CHURCH POSSESSIONS BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

only twice by the Four Masters ; once, in the year 1446, in 
recording the interment of Tany, son of Maoilin, who was in- 
terred in the monastery of Baile-ui Bhogain; and again, the 
year following, when we read of a great plague which raged 
in Meath, Leinster, and Munster; and by which it is related 
that several hundred priests died ; among the rest the Prior of 
Ballybogan.* 

Archdall has collected with great care some curious notices 
of this monastic edifice, which was founded in the twelfth cen- 
tury by Jordan Comin,f under the invocation of the Holy Tri- 
nity, for canons of the order of St. Augustine, and was origi- 
nally called " The Priory de Laude Dei." By an inquisition 
taken in the year 1399, " it was found that John O'Mayller, 
a mere Irishman, and of the Irish sept of the O'Mayllers, ene- 
mies to our Lord the King, was instituted to the priory of the 
Blessed Virgin of Ballybogan ; but Eichard Cuthbert did on 
the same day make due proof that the said priory was not 
under the invocation of the Virgin Mary, but dedicated to the 
Holy Trinity, and that he was the lawful prior thereof. 
Cuthbert was accordingly restored to the temporalities.''^ 
From the well of Ballybogan, or Lady Well, being dedicated 
to the Virgin, it is not improbable that there may have been 
some earlier monastic buildings here under the same invoca- 
tion, and that hence arose the dispute just referred to. 

In 1404 King Henry IV. granted certain lands belonging 
to the prior of Ballybogan, in the county of Dublin, to one 
William Stokynbrygge. Dudley Firbisse records the burning 
to the ground of this priory about the middle of the fifteenth 
century. The last prior was Thomas Bermingham, and the 
following inventory of his possessions has been preserved upon 
the surrender of his church property to Henry VIII., in 1537- 

* We might add here some notice of the different plagues, famines, and pes- 
tilences, from which this country has suffered during the last 1 000 years, and 
show that the very same misery under which we have so lately laboured is but 
a repetition of similar calamities which existed in early years, but that we fear 
to extend this little work to too great a length. A history of our Irish plagues 
and famines would be useful in a medical, a sanitary, and an historical point of 
view. The materials are most abundant. 

f Was this the Jordan Comin who assisted at the massacre of the Irish 
chieftains at Carrick, in 1305 ? If so, this priory must have been founded in 
the thirteenth century. 

| Monasticon Hibernicum, p. 514. 



THE HISTORY OF BALLYBOGAN. 53 

Besides the cloister, kitchen, &c, there were attached to the 
priory *' twenty-four messuages, four gardens, one orchard, one 
curtilage and an haggard within the precincts of the said pri- 
ory ; also the manor of Ballyboggan, containing one hundred 
and sixty messuages, one hundred and sixty gardens, a water- 
mill, six eel-wiers, eighty acres of arable land, one hundred 
and forty of meadow, one thousand of pasture, forty of wood, 
forty of underwood, and six hundred of moor in Ballyboggan, 
of the annual value, besides all reprises, of SI. 6s. 8d. ; sixty 
messuages, forty gardens, three hundred and twenty acres of 
arable, two hundred and forty of pasture, forty of meadow, 
eighty of underwood, and three hundred of moor, in Herrey- 
eston alias Ballykill, of the annual value, besides all reprises, 
of 405. ; one hundred messuages, sixty gardens, forty acres of 
arable land, ninety-six of meadow, six hundred and forty of 
pasture, one hundred and sixty of wood, and three hundred 
and sixteen of moor, in Knockangoll, Ballykesty, and Cardone- 
ston, of the annual value, besides all reprises, of 50s. ; and 
sixty messuages, forty gardens, two hundred and forty acres 
of arable, three hundred of pasture, two hundred and forty of 
moor, and two hundred of underwood, in Kyllnedobbragh and 
Kyllaskelyin, of the annual value, besides all reprises, of 
505."* From this recital we learn somewhat of the vast pos- 
sessions held by the Church in Ireland before the Reformation. 
The greater portion of the lands of this monastery, together 
with those of Clonard, were granted by Henry VIII. to Sir 
William Bermingham, afterwards created Lord Carbery ; and 
the reversion of the monastery, with certain of the estates, were 
bestowed on Edward Fitzgerald in the latter part of the reign 
of Elizabeth. 

Ware's Annals inform us that in 1538 a crucifix which was 
held in great veneration was here publicly burned ; and Tober- 
Crogh-neeve, or the Well of the Holy Cross, at the foot of the 
hill of Carrick, mentioned at page 45, may, perhaps, have de- 
rived its name from some connexion therewith. At the same 
time the reformers burned the celebrated image of the Virgin 
Mary at Trim, and St. Patrick's Staff (crozier) at Dublin. 

The abbey and surrounding lands at present belong to Lord 
Lansdowne, who has most creditably placed several buttresses 

* Monasticon Hibernicum, p. 515. 



54 FROM BALLYBOGAN TO CLONARD. 

against the northern wall, which was in a falling condition some 
years ago. The prospect from the abbey, though tame, is 
particularly pleasing. Looking up the Boyne upon the Kil- 
dare side, the planting of Rahin demesne stretches along a 
gentle elevation which slopes gradually from the river's edge, 
and the country rises in successive undulations to the woods 
of Ballindoolin and the hill of Carrick, while toward the west 
we get a glimpse of the hill of Croghan, in the King's County. 
Our next point of interest is Clonard, to which two roads, 
one on each side of the Boyne, lead from the bridge of Bally- 
bogan. The southern will be found most interesting to the 
tourist, as it passes through a pleasingly- diversified country, 
not remarkable either for its cultivation or its amount of po- 
pulation, — which is here, indeed, particularly thin, — but for 
the number, variety, and graceful form of the swelling undu- 
lations through which we pass. To this part of the country 
may be applied the simile which has been elsewhere used with 
respect to Tipperary, that it resembles a swollen sea which had 
become suddenly consolidated. A circular earthen fort, of the 
military class, belonging to the times before stone buildings 
were much in use, may be seen upon the south-eastern shore 
of the Boyne, in the townland of Ballycowan, not far from the 
high road, and can be visited by those who feel particularly 
interested in the examination of such remains; but as we shall 
direct attention to other similar structures, of greater magni- 
tude and more accessible, upon the lower portions of the river, 
it is here unnecessary to do more than point out its site. 



55 



CHAPTEE III. 

CLONARD, AND THE BOYNE TO TRIM. 

CLONAKD.— DESCRIPTIONS OF CiESAR OTWAY.— THE BATTLE OF 1798.— ANCIENT SEAT OF LEARN- 
ING.— HISTORY OF ST. FINIAN.— THE ABBEY, MONASTERY, AND ROUND TOWER.— DISASTERS 
AND DESECRATIONS, ANCIENT AND MODERN.— ANTIQUE FONT AND LAVATORY.— RECOVERY OF 
AN ECCLESIASTICAL STOUP. — THE PAGAN REMAINS AT CLONARD. — THE MOAT AND FORT ; SPE- 
CULATIONS ON THEIR ORIGIN AND USES.— THE BATTLE-FIELD OF RATHCORE.— THE BATTLE OF 
BOLG-BOINNE.— TICROGHAN.— DONORE CASTLE.— THE BOYNE TO TRIM.— TRTMBLESTOWN. 

Clonard, at which we have now arrived, is the first spot of 
great and undoubted historic and ecclesiastical celebrity which 
we meet with on the Boyne, and deserves a more lengthened 
notice than any of the foregoing. The great western road here 
crosses the river by Leinster bridge, a remarkably flat, well- 
built structure. 

Our lamented friend, Caesar Otway, — a most graphic de- 
scriber of Irish scenery, the most charming of companions, 
and one of the most genuine, true-hearted Irishmen that ever 
lived, and whose powers of description were such that, to use 
the expression of an Edinburgh reviewer, " Give C. O. an old 
stone, a green field, and a gossoon, and he will make a book out 
of it," — noticed this spot in his " Tour in Connaught" in 1832, 
and, as we affect to be little more than gleaners in this work, 
we hesitate not to transcribe some of his impressions of the 
place at that period. 

" The Boyne water flows lazily here, amidst sedge and reeds, 
— appearing but the dark drain of an immense morass — the 
discharge of the waste waters of the bog of Allen. A strong 
position in time of war — Lord Wellington knows it well : he 
has often had his soldier eye upon it, his paternal mansion Dan- 
gan being not far off to the right, near Trim. How different 
was the young, fun-loving, comical, quizzing, gallanting Cap- 
tain Arthur Wellesley, when residing in his shooting-lodge 
between Summerhill [Trim] and Dangan, from the stern, 
cautious, careworn Fabius of the Peninsular war ; the trifling, 
provoking, capricious sprig of nobility, half-dreaded, half- 
doated on by the women, hated by the men, — the dry joker, the 
practical wit, &c, — from the redoubtable warrior of Waterloo 



56 THE BATTLE OF CLONARD. 

— the great prime minister of England. He who achieved a 
greater moral victory than that of Mount St. Jean, when, 
neutralizing and overcoming political and religious animosi- 
ties, he set at rest a question that had vexed the world for 
nearly three centuries.* The Boyne, then, is not here that 
lovely, picturesque water which it becomes when it sweeps 
under the wood-crowned banks of Beau-pare, winds under the 
limestone bluffs of Slane, washes the castle of the Marquis of 
Conyngham, or meets the tide 

" ' At Oldbridge town, 
Where was a glorious battle : 
When James and William staked a crown, 
And cannons they did rattle.' " 

But there was a battle at Clonard also; unhappily, how- 
ever, in it both sides were our own countrymen. To the right 
of Leinster-bridge, on the old road, are the ivy-mantled remains 
of a massive wall, a porch, and a portion of a turret, all that now 
exist of the memorable dwelling where the brave yeomen 
under Lieut. Tyrrell, in 1798, made so gallant a stand against a 
large force of insurgents, some hundred and fifty of whose bodies 
are buried beneath a small mound in one of the adjoining 
fields, j The defence of this little Hougomont was, perhaps, 
one of the most striking instances of determined courage on 
the part of the loyalists that has been recorded during the 
whole of that ill-starred, most unmeaning, and most ill-con- 
ceived rebellion. At the time of this engagement, — the 11th 
of July, — the peasantry who took part in the "rising" had 
become tolerably well organized and accustomed to arms, and 
had then unfortunately seen too much blood spilled, so that 
they did not, at that time, present the unguided rabble mass 
which they appeared some six weeks earlier, at the commence- 
ment of that disastrous campaign. After the defeat at White- 
heaps, a large portion of the insurgents, under Parry, Kearns, 
Holt, and the two Byrnes, fled into Kildare, and in their pro- 
gress attacked the little garrison of yeomanry at Clonard, con- 

* This description of Clonard appeared originally in the Dublin Penny 
Journal. See vol. i. p. 150. The sentence immediately preceding the re- 
ference to this note was omitted in the published " Tour in Connaught." Why ? 

t This little mound, which lies between the Ballybogan road and the river, 
has never been tilled since, and is now covered with gooseberry bushes. 



THE TYRRELLS' DEFENCE. 57 

sisting at the time of but twenty-seven persons, two of whom, 
sons of Mr. Tyrrell, were mere boys. The place to be defended 
resembled, in a remarkable manner, that portion of the field 
of Waterloo to which we have already likened it, consisting of 
a dwelling-house, then occupied as a barrack, and surrounded 
by a court-yard and garden, enclosed by a high wall, on one 
side of which there was a turret commanding the bridge and 
great western road ; in front was the river, on the left a mill- 
race, and behind it some wooded rising ground. The advance 
of the besiegers was so rapid that the gate of the court-yard 
was closed with considerable difficulty. After several hours' 
hard fighting, during which the slaughter of the rebels was 
immense, and the courage, both of the besiegers and besieged, 
severely tested, the garden was lost ; and thus the Tyrrell 
yeomanry became divided. The insurgents then turned their 
chief attention to the turret, from which they had sustained 
the hottest fire. The six men whom it contained, thus cut off 
from their fellows, drew up the ladder and ascended to its top- 
most story, and fought so determinedly, and fired so effectually, 
that it is stated twenty-seven of the assailants were killed 
within and about the ground floor of it during this portion of 
the contest. The attacking force, finding it impossible to gain 
access through the floor, at last lighted a quantity of straw 
within and around the turret, and literally smoked out its 
occupants. While it was enveloped in smoke and flames, two 
of the band attempted to rush through the crowd of assailants, 
but were instantly shot ; yet the other four, leaping from one 
of the upper windows, escaped to their comrades in safety. 
Still the conflict raged for six hours without intermission; the 
valour of the handful of determined spirits within the barracks 
continuing unsubdued, the vengeance of the attacking party 
remaining unsatiated ; till at five o'clock in the evening the 
siege was raised by the arrival of twenty-one additional men 
from Kinnegad, when Mr. Tyrrell and his party sallied forth, 
and drove the insurgents from the garden with great loss. 
God avert such fearful scenes from being again enacted in our 
land ! and — shall we not add ? — forgive the rulers who could, 
by misgovernment, drive, or the selfish leaders who could se- 
duce, the people into a similar condition!* 

* See Sir Richard Musgrave's History of the Irish Rebellion, and the Me- 



58 CLUAIN IORAIRD. 

Within the enclosure of Tyrrell's mansion may be seen a 
very perfect ancient tumulus. 

The name of this celebrated spot, Clonard, or Cluain Ioraird, 
hasbeen translated by Ware, Vallancey, and other topographers, 
*' the Retirement on the Western Heights :" but this meaning 
is very questionable, for there are no heights, or even hills, in 
this locality, to which such could refer. Cluain, which is the 
general prefix to the names of our churches and bishops' sees, 
means a lawn, an insulated meadow, or level, fertile plain, sur- 
rounded by a bog or marsh; in fact a kind of oasis, as we 
know is the general appearance of such localities in Ireland; 
and Ioraird is a proper name: we have examples of this in 
Cluain Mac Nois, Cluain Coner, Cluain Dolcain, &c* Clonard 
was once the most distinguished bishop's see in Meath, per- 
haps it would not be exaggeration to say in the kingdom ; and 
its cathedral may be conjectured to have been one of the very 
first erected in Ireland, and was probably coeval with Clon- 
macnoise, and the original buildings at Armagh. It is well 
known to have been one of the most distinguished seats of 
learning of which the Irish historians can boast. Ware in- 
forms us that St. Finnian, Finen, or Finbar, who must have 
been one of the immediate successors of St. Patrick, was cre- 
ated first Bishop of Clonard in 520, " where he also opened 
a school, which, by his care and industry, produced many men 
of eminent sanctity and learning, among whom were the two 
Kierans, the two Brendans, the two Columbs (namely, 
Columb Kill, and Columb, the son of Crimthan), Laserian, 

moirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish rebels in 1798, edited byT. Crofton 
Corker, Esq., 1838, who adds in a note : " The Kinnegad infantry [Tyrrell's 
corps] received for their conduct, in cutting down the rebels on this occasion, 
the soubriquet of ' the Slashers ;' and a lively melody, still popular in Ire- 
land, was named ' The Kinnegad Slashers,' in complimentary commemoration 
of the achievements of that corps at Clonard." Three celebrated ladies in 
that neighbourhood were also called " The Kinnegad Slashers." Holt acknow- 
ledges that he commanded 3000 men at Clonard, and that number was only a 
portion of those engaged. The rebel loss was upwards of 150. The leaders 
at Ballingarry should have studied the history of Irish rebellions more atten- 
tively. 

* See Petrie's Essay on the Eound Towers, and O'Brien's Irish Dictionary. 
But it is stated by Archdall that the original name of Cluain Ioraird was 
Ross-Finnchuill," the Wood or Shrubbery of the White Hazel," an appellation 
which we can readily suppose was highly characteristic of this spot in early 
times. 



ST. FINIAN. 59 

the son of Nathfrach, Cainec, Moveus, and Euadan. And as 
St. Finian's school was not ' improperly a sacred repository 
of all wisdom,' as the writer of his life tells us, so he himself 
got the surname of ' Finian the Wise.' "* To this ancient seat 
of learning resorted students, not only from all parts of the 
British isles, but also from Armorica and Germany ; so that 
at one time it is said they numbered about 3000. The vene- 
rable Bede, it is said, bears testimony, not only to the instruc- 
tion delivered at Clonard, but to its fame for hospitality 
towards the students of the many nations who resorted there; 
andColgan, Ussher, Sir James Ware, and the learned Dr. Lani- 
gan, have collected materials, and inserted in their writings the 
life of this distinguished philosopher and divine, who was also 
one of the most celebrated commentators on the Holy Scrip- 
tures of his age. One of the hymns anciently sung at his fes- 
tival begins thus: 

" Eegressus in Clonardiam, 
Ad Cathedram Lecturae, 
Apponit diligentiam 
Ad studium Scripturse."f 

There is some discrepancy as to the date of his decease, but 
the best authorities acknowledge that it occurred between the 
years 548 and 563. 

After the establishment of Christianity in Ireland, several 
bishoprics were created in Meath, namely, Clonard, Damiiag 
or Duleek, Ceananus now Kells, Trim, Ardbracken, Dun- 
shaughlin, Foure, Slane, and others ; but in the beginning of 
the twelfth century, all these, except Duleek and Kells, were 
united to form the see of Clonard. 

It appears from our monastic annals, that St. Kieran the 
younger, commonly styled the son of the carpenter, the foun- 
der of Clonmacnois, and who was born in 506, bestowed the 
territory of Clonard, which was his patrimony, on St. Finian, 
whose character and descent is thus recorded by Mac Geo- 
ghegan, who has paraphrased Colgan and Ussher: "St. Finian, 
or Finan, sometimes also called Finbar, son of Fintan, a subtle 
philosopher, and profound theologian, was first Bishop of Clo- 
nard: he was of the noble race of the Clanna Eorys, and his 

* "Ware's Irish Bishops, p. 136. f Ware's Writers of Ireland, p. 18. 



60 THE BAPTISM OF ST. FINIAN. 

piety added new lustre to his birth. Having been baptized 
by St. Abban, he was placed under the guidance of St. Fort- 
kern, Bishop of Trim, where he remained till the age of thirty 
years, continually profiting by the instructions of this holy 
bishop. He afterwards went into Britain, and became attached 
to St. David, Bishop of Menevia in Wales, by whom he was 
particularly beloved for his piety and learning. He remained 
thirty years in Britain, where he founded three churches. 
Having returned to his own country, and being consecrated 
bishop in 520, he established his see at Clonard, on the river 
Boyne, in Meath, where he founded a school, or university, 
celebrated for the great concourse of students, amounting 
sometimes to 3000, amongst whom were a great number of 
subjects celebrated for their sanctity and learning."* 

Dr. Lanigan writes, — his parents were Christians, " and 
sent him towards the Church of Roscor, to be there baptized 
by Bishop Fortkern. The women who were carrying him were, 
it is said, met on the way by the priest, St. Abban, who, hav- 
ing inquired whither they were going, and what was their er- 
rand, undertook to baptize him, which he did at a place where 
two rivers unite into one." From this and other passages bear- 
ing a like interpretation, we are inclined to think the early 
Irish Christians employed immersion as their mode of baptism, 
and some of our very oldest fonts, particularly one still re- 
maining in the churchyard of Tallaght, in the county of Dub- 
lin, would appear to have been constructed for that purpose. 

At a later period the abbey was dedicated to St. Peter, but 
what the original buildings were we can now but conjec- 
ture, probably a missionary chapel, a few monastic cells, and 
a cloictheach, or round tower. There was also a derthech, 
or penitentiary, the burning of which, in the eleventh cen- 
tury, has been recorded. We have constantly wondered 
that no trace of a round tower had been discovered in this 
sacred spot ; but we learn from the Annals of Clonmacnoise 
and the Four Masters, that the cloictheach, or steeple of 
Cluain Ioraird, fell to the ground in the year 1039. Archdall 
understands this to be the steeple of the church, and so indeed 
it was, though a separate building from it. For upwards of 
a thousand years the annals of Clonard have come down to us ; 

* Mac Geoghegan's History of Ireland, vol. i. p. 402. 



THE ANNALS OF CLONARD. 61 

and, although scattered through various works, they are now 
well known, and the majority of them have been collected with 
great industry by Archdall, in his Monasticon Hibernicum, 
in which work he also relates the nobleness of birth, distin- 
guished philosophy, and eminent piety and learning of the 
founder. The library was burned in the year 1143. Is it 
too great a stretch of the imagination to suppose that that 
very copy of the psalms, in the handwriting of St. Columb- 
kille, contained in the splendid silver shrine called the Cathach 
of the O'Donnells, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy, was written in this very library? So early as 665, we 
read of regular professorships having existed there. Besides 
those who resorted thither as students, it seems that several 
pious laymen retired to this secluded spot, to spend the re- 
mainder of their days in contemplation and repose. From this 
sanctuary and abode of wisdom, undoubtedly, sprang much of 
the learning both of Britain and the continent. The far-famed 
Iona, from whence arose 

" That fire which lit creation in her youth, 
That turned the wandering savage into man, 
And showed him the omnipotence of truth," 

derived its religion and its architecture from Clonard.* 

Numerous disasters befell this place. It was pillaged and in 
part destroyed no less than twelve times, on five of these occa- 
sions by the Danes. The church and adjoining buildings were 
fourteen times consumed by fire ; indeed, this destructive ele- 
ment appears to have marked these structures for its particular 
fury, for we read that, in 1045, " the town of Clonard, together 
with its churches, was wholly consumed, being thrice set on 
fire within one week." In 1 136, " the inhabitants of the Bre- 
ney (Brefney) plundered and sacked Clonard, and behaved in 
so shameless a manner, as to strip O'Daly, then chief poet of 

* In that most meagre and incorrect historical account of Iona, by Mr. Ma- 
clean, — the only guide-book, we are sorry to say, with which travellers visiting 
that sacred isle are furnished, — he has the ignorance and bad taste to say : " In 
the year 563, one Colum M'Felim M'Fergus, latinized Columba, a Scotsman, 
set out from Ireland in a currah, and landed at Kebudse," &c. Now, the birth- 
place and parentage of St. Columb are both well known, and are mentioned in 
all the lives of this saint ; nay, the very passage in Adamnanus, to which he 
refers, is quoted incorrectly ; but we need not wonder at this in an author who 
embellishes his title-page with a veritable Gaelic quotation from Ossian ! 



62 ANGLO-IRrSH ECCLESIASTICS. 

Ireland, even to his skin, and leave him in that situation ; and 
amongst other outrages, they sacrilegiously took from the ves- 
try of this abbey a sword, which had belonged to St. Finian, 
the founder." It was sacked and plundered by Dermot Mac 
Murrough, and his English allies, in 1170. The English set- 
tlers appear, however, subsequently to have located themselves 
in the town of Clonard, which must then have been considerable, 
and they are even mentioned as having rebuilt some of the 
edifices. Besides the abbey of Regular Canons, there was 
also a nunnery, endowed by O'Melaghlin,* to which, in after 
times, immense revenues and very extensive lands were at- 
tached. 

In 1206, Simon Rochford, an Englishman, — for English 
ecclesiastics ruled in Ireland then, as well as now, — who as- 
sumed the title of Bishop of Meath, removed the episcopal 
chair from Clonard to Newtown, near Trim, where he founded 
the celebrated abbey of Augustinian Monks. Clonard is fre- 
quently mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, and all 
the ecclesiastical histories of Ireland, and some of the most 
distinguished Irish prelates are said to have been buried 
there.f There was also a castle at Clonard, erected by Hugh 
de Lacy, but, unless Ticroghan be the spot, even its foundations 
have long since been obliterated. 

Amongst the legendary lore attached to this abbey, is a tale 
of Columba, the son of Crimthan, having been seen late one 
night in his cell, when his lamp had expired, reading the sa- 
cred volume by a light which emanated from the tips of his 
fingers, as he passed them over the leaves before him. 

At the beginning of this century, and indeed till a very 
modern date, the ruins of some of the many buildings which 
once adorned this memorable locality were in existence. 
Archdall thus describes them : " The entrance into this abbey, 
on the west side, was through a small building, with a lodge 

* This name, which is written in half-a-dozen ways by the Irish, Latin, and 
English annalists, means Mael-Sechnal, the attendant or servant of Sechnal, 
the patron saint of Meath. 

f We would direct the attention of any of our Irish antiquaries who 
may be travelling in the Highlands of Scotland to the churchyard of 
St. Finian, at Otter, in which will be found some exceedingly curious and 
highly sculptured tomb-stones, the workmanship of which is evidently of Irish 
origin. 



THE REMAINS OF CLONARD IN 1786. 63 

over it, which led into a small court ; to the right of this 
court stands the kitchen and cellar, and over them the dormi- 
tory, ranging with the river, and overlooking the garden, 
which sloped from thence to the water's edge ; opposite the 
entrance was another small apartment, and adjoining it, 
the refectory, which was carried for some length beyond the 
square, and joined the choir, a large and elegant building, most 
part of which still remains, and the windows are finished in a 
light Gothic style. On the south side of the altar, fixed in the 
wall, is a small double arch, in the old Saxon manner, and di- 
vided by a pillar through which iron bars were fixed. This 
is supposed to have been the founder's tomb. There are many 
remains of walls adjoining the other parts of the abbey, but in 
so ruinous a state that little information can be gleaned from 
them. At a little distance from the east window, in the burial 
ground, stands a small chapel, in which is a table monument, 
ornamented with the effigies of a man and a woman, in a pray- 
ing posture, and dressed in the ruff of Queen Elizabeth's time ; 
the sides are adorned with many coats of arms, — that of the 
family of Dillon is most conspicous."* 

We have thus described Clonard from whatever research we 
have been able to devote to the subject ; but of all the mag- 
nificence of all these buildings not even a trace now remains. 
It is with difficulty their former situation can be made out. 
The Christians have, after numberless burnings, sackings, and 
plunderings, for upwards of a thousand years, at last succeeded 
in completely obliterating every vestige of these Christian edi- 
fices, the tombs and temples of their ancestors, while some 
pagan remains, erected centuries before the introduction of 
Christianity into Ireland, attract our attention from the 
Boyne's banks, and point out the locality sought for. Here, 
upon the Trim road, the village of Clonard stands, and in con- 
nexion with it the modern church and graveyard. This lat- 
ter, and the fields adjoining, were the site of the ecclesiastical 
remains, but it would appear from the ancient references that 
the monastical and scholastic buildings extended down towards 
the western bank of the river for some distance. Three stones 
are all that can at present be discovered of the vast range 

* Archdall's Monasticon ; also Gough's additions to Camden, and Seward's 
Topography, &c, &c. 



64 



THE ANCIENT FONT OF CLONARD. 



of buildings, and the numerous decorations and ornaments 
which so lately existed h€',re. One of these is a head, pro- 
bably a fragment of a corbel or bracket, inserted into the 
wall of the present church tower, over the door. The second 
is a baptismal font, that figured in the annexed cut, which was 
probably too heavy to be carried away, or useless in the erec- 
tion of the modern ugly structure adjacent, and too massive to 




be broken with facility. It is still preserved, and has been placed 
in the parochial church. It is one of the finest, and perhaps, 
of its kind, one of the oldest in Ireland, and, being of very 
hard, compact, grey limestone, or marble, it is still in most won- 
derful preservation. It is three feet high, and stands on a square 
pedestal, the upper portion of which is highly ornamented 
with floral decorations, in eight compartments, and divided by 
a moulding from the basin, which is formed out of a separate 
stone, the lower part of which corresponds in the number of 
its sides with the upper part of the shaft ; but four of the 
panels contain figures of angels, the remaining ones being 
filled with the representations of trees or shrubs. The basin 
is octagonal in shape, two feet one inch in diameter, and highly 



AN ANCIENT LAVATORY. 65 

sculptured externally, with figures in relief, representing the 
Flight into Egypt, the Baptism in the Jordan, St. Finian, St. 
Peter, and various grotesque figures of monks of the Augusti- 
nian order ; which latter show that it was carved since the days 
of Walter De Lacy, on the rebuilding of the monastery in 1 1 75. 
The principal figure in the foregoing engraving, that of a bishop 
with a crozier, is supposed to be that of the founder, St. Finian. 
As may be seen by referring to the cut, some of the panels 
are divided per pale, and each small compartment contains a 
figure. The carvings on this curious relic are well worthy of 
inspection, and are a rude pictorial representation of scriptural 
and Irish monastic history and hagiology. The bowl of this 
font is very deep, and measures about twenty inches across, a 
sufficient size to permit of immersion, which, it is more than 
probable, was the form of baptism employed by the early Irish 
Church. There is an aperture in the bottom of it. 

The third stone to which we alluded is a square trough, 
probably the lavatory of the ancient monastery. It is rude 
and undecorated, with a cavity two feet two inches long, 
by twenty-one inches wide, and about fifteen inches in 
depth. It remained, until we had it taken up, very lately, 
almost completely buried in the grave-yard, near the present 
church tower. Like several other hallowed stones, such as 
piscinas, bolt-holes, and steps or bases of crosses, which are 
met with on the sites of many of our old churches and reli- 
gious houses, peculiar superstitious reverence attached to this 
ancient washing basin as long as it remained over ground. 
Like the " Deer-stone" at Glendalough, it was said to have 
contained water at all times, and to this water peculiar pro- 
perties were attributed by the peasantry; it was believed to 
cause the illness and death of geese and all animals which 
drank it, and it was sought for as an infallible remedy — 
one of the hundred infallible cures — for warts.* 

At what precise period during the present century those 
time-honoured ruins at Clonard were completely effaced, or to 
what base uses they were applied, it is now difficult to say. 
The chief dilapidation certainly occurred within the last five- 
and- twenty years. Ruins such as these are the landmarks of 

* See the Author's articles on Irish popular superstitions, in the Dublin 
University Magazine, already referred to, and in the London and Edinburgh 
Monthly Medical Journal for June, 1849. 

F 



66 



SPOLIATION OF MONUMENTS. 



our history, transmitted to us through " ages of sorrow and 
shame," from a brighter and more glorious era, and are fully 
as interesting and as valuable to the Irish people as the stately 
edifices of Westminster or St. Paul's are to the English. 
Whatever government, political or ecclesiastical, rules this 
country, should be taught, by the voice of public opinion, to 
preserve our architectural remains and antiquities ; and neither 
vestry clerk, parish bumpkin, itinerant architect, nor titled 
commissioner, should be permitted to remove one stone of 
those sacred piles, which are not the property, and do not 
belong to this parish or that proprietor, but appertain by right 
to the country at large. 

We had a lamentable instance of the desecration of monu- 
ments, the dilapidation of ancient structures, and the com- 
plete obliteration of the records of several well-marked historic 
eras, in the spoliation of the church of Lusk, not far from this 
city, a few years ago; and not many months past a similar 
attempt was made to destroy the monuments in the old church 
of St. Audoen's, in Dublin. Where will paternal love, or 
filial piety, the adoration of a husband, the mourning of 
a friend, or the grateful homage of a country, erect the tomb 
or carve the tablet, to the memory of the hallowed, though 
not forgotten dead, if such memorials are, within the lapse 
of a few years, by the vote of a vestry, or the dictate of 
a commission, to be hurled from their niches, broken, scat- 
tered through the surrounding grave-yard, or turned into 
sharpening-stones by the masons and artisans employed in 
erecting modern ungairily buildings, in the construction of 
which the materials of a church some five or six centuries 
old are often " thrown into" the contractor's agreement? 

But, above all, the people themselves should be taught to 
reverence and respect these remains, and not (as we have fre- 
quently observed), destroy them, by removing some of their 
beautifully carved, stones to form lintels and cornices for their 
wretched cabins, the surrounding filth and misery of which 
contrast but too mournfully with the relics of ancient gran- 
deur in their vicinity. 

Among the remnants of ecclesiastical remains belonging to 
the cathedral of Clonard, which have been discovered or pre- 
served, one unique object of interest deserves our especial 
notice. The Kinnegad river winds by this spot, and in some 



AX ANCIENT STOUP. 67 

improvements lately made for the purpose of deepening the bed 
of that stream, a nest of curious antiquities was discovered. They 
consisted of a bucket, composed of small oaken staves, in which 
were packed some thin brazen culinary vessels ; one of those 
long brass Dutch boxes, well known to the curious in such 
matters, containing some silver coins of the reign of Elizabeth; 
some of the "brass money" of James II., and several copper 
coins of the reign of William and Mary, dated as late as 
1694, which latter serve to mark the time of the interment 
of these relics. But the object of most interest is a small 
bucket or Stoup, of oak, about six inches high, and beau- 
tifully hooped or bound with a thin filagree of brass ; the 
handle, which is also brass, is affixed by loops and clasps, 
which contained precious stones, and were decorated in the 
form of some of those carvings, so -^^^s^^r-^ 

characteristic of early Irish art, both ^^^iT^^ l llfc ^ 

in the engraving and adorning of or- b LJl ' ___/iJ!P5f 

naments, and the embellishment and t KSfj^ ^Pifegffll 

illumination of manuscripts. It is al- HmJmIBJI^^P^ 

together an exceedingly light, chaste, P rt^Jl^ffi ^fllf 

and elegant fabric, and was, in all pro- rBp^^^^"^ 

bability, used in the service of the jj _--- v, . \v .v'-"|vyjji 
cathedral, perhaps for carrying round ^ JP^^^ 
the holy water.* Utensils of this "^(|^^^^^^^^9 
kind, both household and ecclesias- ^^gsss^-^*' 

tical, are alluded to in the Brehon laws. Were we to offer a 
conjecture, we would say that after the battle of the Boyne, 
when Dutch boxes were common in Ireland, these relics were 
removed from the Abbey, and hidden, or dropped by accident, 
*in the locality where they were found. 

* See a picture, by Shoreel, in 1520, in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations of the 
Middle Ages, voL ii., given in the Glossary of Gothic Architecture. This inte- 
resting relic figured above belongs to Dr. Barker, of Gardiner 's-row, in this city, 
in the vicinity of whose family estate it was found, and to whom we are in- 
debted for permission to publish the accompanying engraving. With laudable 
zeal he has deposited it, with the other objects of interest found in the same 
locality, in the great national collection of the Academy, where the public have 
an opportunity of seeing them, and where they are carefully preserved. The 
public generally, and even our fellow-citizens, do not seem to appreciate this 
noble collection, where, besides the articles intrinsically the property of the 
Academy, several interesting family relics have been deposited for safety and 
the purposes of exhibition. 

f2 



68 



THE MOAT OF CLONARD. 



We now turn to those Pagan remains which already at- 
tracted our attention, and to which we lately directed our 
steps from the Boyne's banks. About half a mile beyond the 
bridge of Clonard, near the church, and consequently on the 
left bank of the river, rises one of the most picturesque green 
moats of the many that border this noble stream. On its sum- 
mit a most picturesque ash nourishes in great luxuriance. 
That tree has a particular charm for us ; we remember it some 
fifteen years ago, when its commanding position attracted our 
attention, as we first wended our way from the far west to- 
wards Alma Mater ; and season after season as we passed it, 
returning to the home of friends, and the glens and mountains 
in the sterner and more romantic, but less historic lands 
washed by the wide Atlantic, we watched the growth of its 
graceful, wide-spreading boughs with no common interest. 




This large tumulus, the great bulk of which is probably 
formed of small stones, but the surface of which is now a ver- 
dant greensward, rises in steps caused by the gradual slipping 
of the alluvial soil. In circumference it measures 433 feet 
round the base, and at the top, which is flat and truncated, 
168 feet. Its perpendicular height is upwards of fifty feet. 
Some excavations were made both at top and bottom upon 
its northern aspect, by treasure-seekers, some years ago. 

Circular mounds of this description are of two kinds, mili- 



A MILITARY RATH. 69 

tary and sepulchral, and it is often difficult, without an exa- 
mination of the interior, to distinguish to which class some of 
them belong ; but this point we shall discuss as we advance 
among the larger and more numerous collection of these 
monuments on the lower Boyne. This at Clonard appears 
to be a barrow, or tumulus, and probably covers a stone cham- 
ber, or a cromlech, containing the remains of some distin- 
guished Irish chieftain. In numberless instances we find archi- 
tectural remains of more recent date, and coming within the 
historic period, occurring in the immediate neighbourhood of 
these mounds ; and not far from this moat once stood the ce- 
lebrated school, abbey, and cathedral, which we have already 
described. It would appear that the odour of sanctity still 
lingered round the spot hallowed by the dust of the noble 
dead, or commemorated by the battle-field of heroic times, and 
that on the national acceptance of a new religion and another 
system of Government, of policy, or warfare, Christian edifices, 
civil and ecclesiastical, arose round their Pagan predecessors. 

Independent of this great mound beside the town of old Clo- 
nard, the entire of the vicinity is studded over with mounds, 
forts, and raths, of various shapes and sizes; there is one, how- 
ever, in particular, a short distance to the north-west of the 
great tumulus, to which we would especially direct the attention 
of the tourist, on account of its importance, and the peculiarity 
of its structure, as distinguished from the sepulchral mounds 
in its neighbourhood. This rath or dun, which is evidently 
one of the military class, formed an ancient fort or encamp- 
ment, and was capable of containing as many as 200 men ; it 
consists of an external fosse, encircling a raised ditch, or cir- 
cular earthen wall, within which we find a level platform, 
elevated somewhat above the surrounding plain, but not so 
high as the earthen circle which encloses it. A broad entrance, 
through which a modern carriage might enter, exists upon 
its eastern side. 

In some instances there is a double wall of circumvallation ; 
and cases might be enumerated, in which sepulchral mounds, 
cromlechs, and tumuli, exist in the centre of these military en- 
closures. Several of these ancient forts contain a central subter- 
ranean chamber, and circular passages, in all probability for the 
purposes of security, and to serve as granaries ; and beside the 
rude weapons and ornaments occasionally discovered in their 



70 THE CLUAIN OF CLONARD. 

vicinity, quantities of animal remains, particularly of goats 
and oxen, have been found within and around these enclosures. 

Between this ancient camp and the great mound, in the low 
ground through which the Kinnegad or Blind Eiver flows, have 
been dug up, from time to time, numerous Irish antiquities, 
brazen celts, spears, fibulae, and also quantities of charcoal, slag, 
and such material as would indicate the previous existence of 
some foundry or smelting establishment. But looking down 
from the tumulus upon the surrounding flat country, and exa- 
mining the situation and appearance of this great rath, we are 
strongly inclined to believe that the ancient name of the place 
is derived from it. It fully answers the meaning of the term 
Cluain, an insulated meadow, a sort of oasis rising out of a bog 
or morass, and, as we already remarked, bore the name of a 
man, probably some early Irish warrior; — is it too speculative 
to suppose that of the person buried in the great sepulchral 
moat, figured at page 68? Sometimes these raths or cashels 
are formed of stone, and in some rare instances they enclose 
Christian churches and monastic remains; but, besides the dif- 
ference in material and contents, these circumstances in no 
wise prove their Christian origin, for it is acknowledged that 
Christian edifices have been erected, within these enclosures, 
within the historic era. 

There has long existed an opinion among the reading and 
middle classes in this country, that these raths are of Danish 
origin ; but, though still described as such by some of the pea- 
santry, no person of any antiquarian knowledge now believes 
them to be any other than Pagan structures, erected by the 
Firbolg, Tuatha De Danaan, Scotic, or Milesian population, 
and constructed long prior to the first Danish invasion of 
Ireland. Conversing with an old man at Bective lately, we 
asked his opinion of these remains : " Ough," says he, " sure 
it's well known they were med by the Danes, who, when they 
were nearly bet all out, and grown mighty wake entirely in 
the counthry, lived under ground in thim same forths." 

Besides the very general belief that exists even among the 
upper classes of society — an opinion, by the way, chiefly ascrib- 
able to the writings of Sir Thomas Molyneux — of the Danish 
origin of these raths, a certain degree of superstitious reverence 
attaches to them in the minds of the peasantry, by whom they 
are often styled " fairy raths" and fairy circles, and are believed 



DANISH FORTS. 71 

to be now inhabited by, if not originally the handiwork of the 
"gentry "or "good people, "whose music is said to be often heard 
within their enchanted precincts, in the calm summer evenings ; 
and this superstition is strong against their Danish origin.* 
Although by no means inclined to foster these rude and early 
prejudices of our people, still we respect them, inasmuch as 
they have for centuries thrown a magic spell around these en- 
chanted halls, which few were hardy enough to attempt to 
break. Until very lately, scarcely a peasant in the land would 
put his spade into one of these mounds or circles; and we 
have known blood spilled in attempting to force the people to 
demolish an ancient rath. Sometimes this spoliation arises from 
ignorance, or want of patriotism, in our farmers and gentry, but 
often from mere curiosity, or in order to manure or level the land, 
and frequently, to our own knowledge, for the mere purpose 
of "breaking down prejudices," and showing the people that 
no ill-luck or misfortune could possibly occur from their de- 
struction. So much for the veneration for our national monu- 
ments ; so much for the reverence for the dust of our ancestors ! 
It does not bespeak either education, taste, or patriotism, thus 
wantonly to obliterate these footprints of our early history. 
While we speculate upon the construction, the uses, and the 

* Giraldus Cambrensis calls some of them Danish ; but, after the publication 
of Sir T. Molyneux's Discourse on " Danish Mounts, Forts, and Towers," this 
idea was chiefly propagated by Hugh Boy M'Curtin, whose dissertation was 
widely circulated among the native Irish. 

In no place in the Irish histories do we read of the remains at Tara, Emania, 
Tailte, or Croghan, &c, being attributed to the Danes, or called Danes' forts. 
In the autograph letter of Thady O'Roddy, published in the Irish Archaeologi- 
cal Society's Miscellany, p. 124, we have the following common sense view of 
the case, written by an intelligent Irish antiquary in 1517 : 

" For the Carnes, or heaps of stones, in several parts of Ireland, some of 
them were heaped as monuments in memory of battles fought in such a place, 
some made in memory of some eminent persons buried in such a place, some 
of them laved over some corps, as the Romans did : Aggere cinctus. 

" For the forts called the Danes forts, its a mere vulgar error. For these 
forts (called Raths) were entrenchments made by the Irish about their houses. 
For we never had any stone worke in Ireland till after St. Patricke's coming, 
a Christi 432, the 5th yeare of the reign of Laogary MacNeill. And then we 
began to build churches, &c, of stone. So that all our kings, gentry, &c, had 
such raths or forts about their houses, witnes Tara forts, where the khigs of 
Ireland lived, Rathcroghan in Connaught, etc." 

By " stone worke,'' Dr. Todd, the learned editor of this Tract, very justly re- 
marks in a note, that the author must mean that "we had no buildings of 



72 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE EARLY IRISH PEOPLE. 

historic era of these raths, duns, lises, or ancient fortresses and 
encampments, which have given names to so many places in Ire- 
land, we must carry the mind back to a very early period in 
the colonization of this island, when a great portion of the 
country was thick wood and impassable morass; when the 
population did not exceed, if indeed it even amounted to two 
millions ; when the warfare of the country consisted in the 
desultory incursions of some neighbouring chief; and the 
weapons of the belligerents were flint arrows, sling-stones, and 
stone and bronze hatchets and celts, with, in a little later pe- 
riod, short brazen swords, like those found on the field of 
Cannae. We should then, in all probability, have found a half- 
civilized tribe or clan, or portion of a clan, intrenched within 
one of these raths, — which was further strengthened by a 
strong wooden palisade, erected on the outer embankment, — 
with their flocks grazing on the neighbouring plain, and their 
habitations constructed of timber, within the circle of the 
great enclosure. 

As several other military *forts, and one in particular, the 
great ring fort on the lands of Dowth, will claim our attention 
as we descend towards the sea, we shall refer to these struc- 
tures in another locality. 

It is very remarkable, as we already observed, how fre- 
quently we find some of the earliest Christian remains in the 
vicinity of Pagan mounds, tumuli, and other similar ancient 
structures, as if the feeling of veneration remained round the 
spot ; and, though the grove of the Druid was replaced by the 
cashel of the Christian, still the place continued to be re- 
spected, and the followers of the early missionaries raised their 
churches and laid their bones in those localities hallowed by 
the dust or renowned by the prowess of their ancestors. Until 
within the last three centuries, which may be styled the dark 
ages of Ireland, each succeeding generation appeared to vie 
with its predecessor in the elegance and the beauty of its 
architecture. The pillar-stone, enlarged and decorated, grew 
into the sculptured cross; the hermit's cell became the 
cloistered monastery ; the small belfry within the rude cashel 



stone cemented with lime and sand mortar before the introduction of Chris- 
tianity ; for the Cahers or Cyclopean stone forts, built without cement, are as 
old as any of the earthern raths." 



TRANSITIONS IN IRISH ARCHITECTURE. 73 

rose into the stately tower; the simple missionary church 
of early times grew into the florid cathedral; and individuals, 
as well as nations, strove to show their piety in the religious 
edifices which they erected, and their patriotism and ancestral 
veneration in the tombs and monuments which they adorned. 
These holy feelings continued alive and warm in the breasts of 
the nobles, churchmen, and chieftains of Ireland, even through 
ages of wild misrule; in the days of foreign invasion, when the 
plundering Northmen pillaged, burned, and destroyed, and a 
conquering neighbour fomented civil disagreements and domes- 
tic strife; when might, not right, was law; when the soldier's 
stalwart arm, and the churchman's moral power, — the bannered 
or the mitred tyrant, — swayed in turn the destinies of our 
people; before peace, with its accompaniments of security, 
wealth, and commerce, flourished in the land ; e'er national 
schools offered education to the peasantry, — centuries antece- 
dent to the creation of Art Unions and national Architectural 
Institutes, and long prior to the date of modern commissions, — 
church architecture obtained an eminence in Ireland which 
it has never since equalled. These reflections were forcibly 
impressed upon us in some of our excursions along the Boyne, 
where, beside the ruin of some light and elegant early church, 
with its leaning door-posts, its round chancel arch, and trian- 
gular-headed windows, its carved imposts, and sculptured pis- 
cinae, and all those details which, though simple and inexpensive, 
preserve the rules of taste and architecture, we find some 
ugly, inarchitectural, modern, white- washed or yellow- washed 
structure, with its sentry-box for a belfry, and cold, damp, 
unpainted interior, erected at an expense far exceeding that 
which the construction of a building, similar to the original, 
would have cost. The church at Clonard affords a lamentable 
instance of our position. We neither belong to the schools of 
Rome nor Oxford, but we do hope to see the day when an Irish 
parish church, for a congregation of some fifty persons, will be 
constructed on the model of some of the early churches, the 
creed of the occupants of which was, perhaps, as pure and as 
free from the middle age corruptions as that now believed by 
the portion of the population professing the reformed faith. 

A new era has taken place in the vicinity of this memo- 
rable locality, an event which the wildest visionary of that far- 
famed school of philosophy, who sauntered along " The Boyne 



74 THE BATTLE-FIELD OF RATHCORE. 

of Science," could not by any possibility have even speculated 
upon. An aqueduct carries the Koyal Canal over the stream a 
short distance below this ; and at the same point the river is 
crossed by the Midland Great Western Railway, by which our 
readers, instead of being, as of old, tugged along in a dirty tub 
through a muddy ditch, at a rate little exceeding two miles 
and a half an hour, can spin over the Boyne with comfort and 
security at a rate of twenty miles an hour at least. 

In the cuttings that were made along the banks of the canal, 
between Enfield and Clonard, for the progress of the rail- 
way, a most interesting battle-field was opened at Eathcore, 
in the townland of Newcastle, county of Meath, and such 
a quantity of human bones exposed, that the entire bank was 
literally white with them. They were found in every possible 
position, but had evidently been thrown into a large pit, with- 
out order, and not surrounded by any form of sepulchral monu- 
ment. The most superficial part of this ossific stratum was 
scarcely two feet beneath the surface : and along with these bones 
were found some iron spear-heads, hatchets, and other weapons, 
which incline us to believe that these remains may be those of 
the gallowglasses, or heavy Irish soldiery employed in this 
country from the tenth to the end of the fifteenth century. 
Such, however, may be the speculations which men will yet 
form when similar exhumations occur on the fields of Cressy, 
Poictiers, or Agincourt, or, in a few centuries to come, perhaps 
even Waterloo. Some of these weapons have been placed in 
the national collection of the Academy. 

The Annals of the Four Masters have afforded us the follow- 
ing references to this locality : 

"A.D.799- — Hugh Oirdnidhe (monarch of Ireland) collected 
a large army, and marched into Leinster ; and he devastated 
Leinster twice in one month. He again raised the whole of the 
men of Ireland, except those of Leinster, both lay and clerical, 
and marched to Dun-Cuair, on the confines of Meath and Lein- 
ster; Connmach, the Coarb of Patrick, accompanied by the 
clergy of the northern, or Conn's half of Ireland. The clergy 
were displeased at being called on expeditions at all. They 
complained of their grievance to the King ; and the King, 
Hugh, said that he would abide by the decision of Fothadh- 
na-Canoine [Fathadh of the Canon] in the matter. And it 
was on that occasion that he [Fathadh] gave the judgment 



THE BATTLE OF BOLG-BOINXE. 75 

which relieved or exempted the clergy from expeditions or 
hostings ever after." Dun-Cuair is the same as Eath-Cuair, the 
modern Eath-Core. 

•• A. D. 800. — Hugh Oirdnidhe went to Cuar, and divided 
Leinster between the two Muireadhachs, viz., Muireadhach, 
son of Euadhrach, and Muireadhach, son of Brian." 

"A. D. 815. — Hugh Oirdnidhe, King of Ireland, went out 
with a great army to Dun Cuar again, and divided Leinster 
between the two grandsons of Bran." 

There is in this locality a remarkable winding of the river, 
styled in ancient writings * ; the sweep of the Boyne," where it 
spreads out into a considerable expanse, and the spot is memo- 
rable in Irish history. In the year 765, the seventh of Niall, 
the Annals of the Four Masters, in recording the various battles 
which took place in the east of Ireland, give us an account of 
" the battle of Bolg-Boinne" (the belly of the Boyne), " against 
the men of south Breagh," in which certain Irish chieftains 
were slain. The hostile belligerents appear to have been the 
Leinstermen. 

About a mile beyond the bridge of Clonard, towards the 
west, we find the ruins of the old fortress of Ticroghan, or 
Queen Mary's Castle, as it is sometimes styled ; it can be 
seen from the Ballybogan road, upon the left bank of the river, 
and may be visited in that route. "We cannot, however, stop 
to record the annals of every feudal or monastic pile that 
attracts our attention in this passage down the Boyne ; but we 
may here remark, that Lord Ormonde retired to this castle 
from Trim, in 1649, shortly before the siege of Drogheda, and 
that, " after a well-regulated defence," it was surrendered by 
Lady Fitzgarret, in 1650, to Colonel Eeynolds and Colonel 
Huetson.* In its vicinity some remains of the walls of an an- 
cient church and a burial ground, which formerly contained 
an antique font, also exist ; but even within our own memory 
portions of the walls of the castle have been torn down to sup- 
ply building materials. De Lacy built a castle at Clonard, 
but, if this was not it, we cannot find any trace of it. 

* The peasants in the neighbourhood relate a story that the siege was about 
to be abandoned when the besiegers discovered that the soldiers in the fortress 
were firing silver bullets: encouraged by this proof of the extremity in which 
the beleaguered were, the Parliamentary forces continued the attack with re- 
newed energy, and soon succeeded in reducing the castle. 



76 THE BOYNE FROM CLONARD TO TRIM. 

We now commence the second great division of the Boyne, 
extending from Clonard to Navan. In the first portion of 
this division, from Clonard to Trim, a distance of about ten 
miles, the characteristics of the river vary little from those 
which we have described ; slow, deep, and tortuous, it winds 
on its placid course, through deep, alluvial meadows, to the 
bridge of Stonyford, over which the road from Mullingar to 
Trim crosses to the southern bank. For the next four miles 
of its course there is little to attract attention ; the banks are 
low, and the country exceedingly flat, and liable to yearly in- 
undations from the overflow of the river, several of which have 
been recorded by the Annalists. This stream has not been 
made any use of, either for the improvement of the country or 
commercial purposes. There is scarcely one boat upon it for 
many miles of its course, and the only fish it affords here are 
pike, perch, and eels. The fish of the Boyne have been cele- 
brated in ancient story ; but these were, we have reason to 
believe, salmon, which now at least are seldom caught so high 
up. On the original proposal of making a canal along the 
Boyne, it was intended to have rendered the river navigable 
as far as Clonard, but the canal never was completed further 
than Navan, although it remains half finished as far as Trim. 
A river of such magnitude, and with such facilities, running 
from the very heart of the kingdom, and through the granary 
of the island, to a good sea-port, and remaining, for such a 
length of time, in the upper portion of its course, nearly as 
when the first migrations of the human family passed up it, 
certainly speaks badly either for the government of the country 
or for the native enterprise or industry of the people: perhaps 
both are to blame. The bed of the river is being now deepened, 
and some interesting relics have been discovered in it; among 
the rest, a most beautiful and most perfect gallowglass axe, the 
finest of the kind ever found ; it is in the Museum of the Royal 
Irish Academy. 

In the demesne of Killyon, on the northern bank of the river, 
about midway between Clonard and Trim, are the ruins of an 
old church and friary, originally founded by St. Liadhan or 
Liedania, the mother of St. Kieran of Saighir, who is still 
the patroness of this parish. From some of the Inquisitions 
and Burke's Hibernia Dominicana we learn that the Domini- 
can monks of Trim retired to the Friary of Donore, as it is 



THE CASTLE OF DONORE. 77 

sometimes called. The two walls which now remain are pictu- 
resquely situated on a sloping ground, surrounded by some pa- 
triarchal ash trees ; and nearly opposite these, on the southern 
bank, at Lion's Den, in the townland of Castle Eicard, we find 
the crumbling walls of an old battlemented house. Two very 
perfect tumuli, one near the church of Castle Bicard, also occur 
in this locality. 

Below the friary, on the northern bank, the square border 
castle of Donore, here represented, forms a conspicuous object, 




as its ruins are in better preservation than most of the other 
castles of the Pale, particularly those on the northern side 
of the river. We have not been able to collect any accurate 
information with reference to this building, which does not 
appear to be older than the fifteenth century. It was pro- 
bably built by some of the Anglo-Norman soldiers, who spread 
themselves over the fertile valley of the Boyne for two or 
three centuries after the English invasion. There are several 
Donores, both in Meath, Westmeath, and Kildare ; and two of 
these — M c Geoghegan's castle, in Westmeath, and Donore Hill, 
from whence James beheld his defeat at the Boyne — are me- 
morable localities. 

The next bridge we meet is that of Inchmore, near which the 
Kildare Blackwater empties itself, and beyond it that of Sca- 
riff, below which latter the river is broken into a great 
number of islands, and intersected by weirs. The road 
approaches to within a few yards of the stream at this 



78 TRIMBLESTOWN CASTLE. 

point ; and here the true sylvan beauty of the Boyne com- 
mences, a circumstance of which the neighbouring proprietors 
seem to be aware, for now every mansion, lodge, or cot- 
tage, seems proud of its locality, and we find the elevated, 
sloping, wooded banks here, studded with Boyne views, Boyne 
banks, and Boyne lodges, one of the latter of which is located 
at the next bridge we meet with, Derrinydaly. The country 
through which the river passes to this point is light in 
soil, very thinly populated, and chiefly used as meadow or 
pasture land, a circumstance owing partly to the yearly inun- 
dations. Below Derrinydaly the stream passes the demesnes 
of Newhaggard and Trimblestown, still preserving the same 
tortuous course, slow in progress, and constantly broken 
into islands, some of which are planted with considerable taste. 
On the right bank of the river, in a bold sweep, with which it 
encloses the ground of E-oristown and Newhaggard, we find a 
large oval military fort, with a small souterrain in its western 
face ; and a similar description of fort may be observed about 
a mile from the Boyne, on its northern side, near the coach 
road from Trim to Athboy. 

The castle and chapel of Trimblestown, the residence of the 
Barnewall family, and which gives title to the present baron, 
are about a mile from the Boyne, in a direct line. Trimbles- 
town castle was fortified during the war of 1641, and for 
the ten following years. General Jones attacked it in 1647, 
when it surrendered to the Parliamentary forces. This is 
the first demesne of any magnitude, and the first noble re- 
sidence, which we meet with on the Boyne's bank ; and we re- 
gret to say, that it is too true a picture, and too well-marked 
a type of many similar residences in the country, forsaken 
and neglected, a perfect ruin, yet still imposing even in its 
decay ; its high embattled walls and massive towers, which 
formerly rose above the surrounding woods, exhibit one of the 
finest specimens of domestic architecture of the fifteenth cen- 
tury in the kingdom. The family cemetery, in the small ruined 
chapel in the neighbourhood, is worthy of inspection.* 

* For some notices of the late Lord Trimblestown see Memoirs of Richard 
Lovell Edgeworth. A drawing of Trimblestown Castle, by Petrie, forms the 
frontispiece to the second volume of the " Excursions through Ireland." 



79 



CHAPTER IV. 

TKIM. 

TRIM*; FIRST IMPRESSIONS ; HISTORY, ANCIENT AND MODERN ; ACCOMMODATION ; ORIGIN 
AND FOUNDATION.— ST. MARY'S ABBEY AND YELLOW TOWER.— GEOFFREY DE GENEVILLE.— 
MILITARY BUILDINGS.— THE EARLY IRISH CASTLES.— THE SAXON, WHO ?— DEATH OF HUGH 
DE LACY.— THE PRESENT CASTLE OF TRIM ; ITS CHAPEL AND MINT.— TALBOT'S CASTLE.— THE 
EARLY RESIDENCE OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.— LARACOR, SWIFT, AND STELLA.— NEW- 
TOWN ; ITS ABBEY, TOMBS, AND RUINS.— MONASTIC CASTLE AND PRIORY OF ST. JOHN. 

We now approach Trim from the west, but the views of its 
ruined towers, its steeples, and its abbeys, are, from this side, 
far inferior to those gained on every other approach. To see 
Trim aright the tourist must approach it by the Blackbull 
road from Dublin, when all the glorious ruins which crowd 
this historic locality, and which extend over a space of above 
a mile, burst suddenly upon him : the remains of St. John's 
Friary and castellated buildings at the bridge of Newtown ; 
the stately abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul a little further on, 
raising aloft its tall, light, and ivy-mantled windows, the 
neighbouring chapel, with its sculptured tombs and monu- 
mental tablets ; the broad green lawns, through which the 
Boyne winds, between that and Trim ; the silver stream itself, 
gliding smoothly onward with unbroken surface ; the grey 
massive towers of King John's castle, with its outward walls 
and barbican, the gates, and towers, and bastions, the fosse, 
and moat, and chapel ; the Sheep-gate and portions of the 
town-wall ; and, towering above all, the tall, commanding 
form of the Yellow Steeple, which seems the guardian genius of 
the surrounding ruins. All these beauteous objects, with the 
ancient church tower, the town itself, the Wellington testimo- 
nial, and the modern public buildings, form a combination of 
scenery and an architectural diorama such as we have rarely 
witnessed. We have also this additional charm in the views of 
Trim, that, look at this place as we may, its noble ruins are ever 
forming new combinations, fresh groups of beauty and of inte- 
rest, singly or collectively: in all the varying aspects caused 
by atmospheric changes ; in glaring sunshine playing upon 
their massive walls; with the heavens overcast, and the drift- 
ing shower half revealing some of their turrets and gables ; 



80 TABLEAUX OF RUINS. 

with the calm subdued light of evening softening every object 
in the landscape; or the silver moontide throwing into shadow 
every dark recess and deep cathedral niche ; with the stream 
that winds among them now burnished as a golden mirror,, 
now dark and gloomy, with scarce light upon it to reflect the 
ruins that are usually mirrored in its calm waters. In each 
and all of these we have ever found new sources of admiration, 
new themes for the painter's art, the poet's feeling: 

Here you stand, 



Adore and worship when you know it not ; 
Pious beyond the intention of your thought, 
Devout above the meaning of your will.'' 

Among the other beauties of the ruins of Trim are the 
tableaux which each group form when seen from one of the 
others; thus appear the castle and the Yellow Steeple with the 
town of Trim, when framed in the beautiful Gothic window 
of Newtown Abbey ; thus may Newtown or the Yellow Steeple 
be seen from the interior of the castle; and other views of a like 
character, and formed in a similar manner by some surrounding 
arch or window, might be cited. 

But we rave of scenes that we have admired, instead of 
conducting our readers through the town of Trim, and over 
these ruins in detail. Well, then, — of all the modern towns in 
Ireland, of our acquaintance, we know few to vie with Trim 
in dirt, laziness, and apathy; and of all the ruins in the coun- 
try, we cannot call to mind any more carefully kept or better 
preserved from decay than these. This preservation of the 
ruins of Trim is chiefly to be ascribed to the energy and zeal 
of Dean Butler, the vicar, who has taken immense pains not 
only to collect a great body of information on the subject of 
Trim, but also to bring to light and preserve many of its 
antiquities. The Dean possesses a fine collection of coins, 
found among these ruins, and has printed and published some 
notices of the castle and church at Trim, collected from various 
authorities. These little publications, which, we confess, we 
would rather have seen in a less dry and more popular form, 
contain, we believe, the greatest amount of information, in the 
fewest possible words, of any works we ever read. They are 
chiefly composed of annals, collected from various ancient re- 
cords, and arranged in a chronological form, extending — the 



THE TOWN OF TRIM. 81 

ecclesiastical notices from 433 to the present century, and the 
military from 1 128 to 1689. We have availed ourselves largely 
of these researches in the present notice, particularly in the 
description of the military remains of Trim. 

It would seem as if the modern inhabitants — perhaps degene- 
rated by the causes which have ever acted in demoralizing small 
corporations, and owing in part to the unfortunate circum- 
stances of a plurality of landlords, or wanting the stimulus of 
the warder's bugle, and the exciting scenes when De Lacy's 
lancers and mailed warriors careered through their narrow 
streets, when the standard of royalty proudly waved from the 
tall towers of their -castle, and the mitred abbot and stole-girt 
priest, with all the gorgeous paraphernalia of the Church, pa- 
raded their dull town — have sunk down into apathy and list- 
less indifference. According to the last Census, the population 
of Trim amounted to 2269 persons, 1124 males, and 1145 
females. It has the honour of being the county town, and 
possesses a gaol, a fever hospital, a poor-house, barrack, court- 
house, and a school under the Incorporated Society endowed 
by Richard first Baron Mornington; and it has been orna- 
mented with a testimonial pillar, erected by the gentry of 
Meath to the honour of the Hero of Waterloo, who spent some 
of his early days at Dangan, in this neighbourhood, and who 
represented this borough the first time he sat in Parliament. 

We cannot say much for the accommodation of Trim ; but 
we are bound to acknowledge every possible desire to afford 
comfort and civility. A little more care, and a little more 
cleanliness, added to the civility which it at present affords, 
would make the Trim hotel a very desirable residence during 
a tourist's stay. A coach passes between this town and Dublin 
twice in the day, and the Navan Railway on the one side, and 
Midland Great Western on the other, bring the tourist within 
little more than an hour's drive of the scene we are describing. 
The immediate suburbs, like all those surrounding ancient 
monastic remains, exhibit great richness and fertility. Before 
it enters the town the Boyne widens considerably, but becomes 
exceedingly contracted while passing beneath the ancient castle. 
It is crossed by a narrow bridge not unlike that of Drogheda. 

The ancient name of that place was Ath-Truim, " the Pass 
or Ford of the Elder Trees ;" and a ford, or shallow in the river, 
a short distance above the bridge, and within the extent of the 



82 THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF TRIM. 

old fortifications, was probably the site of this pass, for above, 
and particularly below it, the river is very deep. 

Although we have no evidence of the military importance 
of Trim before the arrival of the English in the twelfth cen- 
tury, there is high authority for believing it to be "one of 
the oldest, if not the very oldest, of the Irish episcopal sees ;" 
and consequently it had an abbey or conventual church, which, 
it appears, was used, like the round towers of old, as an occa- 
sional place of refuge and defence to the small Christian com- 
munity which had collected around it. "Colgan informs us 
that so early as the year 432, St. Patrick founded here an 
abbey of canons regular, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, built 
on a piece of ground given for that purpose by Fethlemid, the 
son of Laoghaire [Felimy, or Phelimy, son of Leary], and 
grandson of Niall."* The first bishop of this see was St. Loman, 
the nephew of Patrick, who was succeeded by Forcherne, the 
grandson of King Laoghaire, who was said to have been 
baptized by Patrick himself. 

" A. D. 433. When Patrick, in his holy navigation, came 
to Ireland, he left St. Loman at the mouth of the Boyne, to 
take care of his boat forty days and forty nights ; and then he 
(Loman) waited another forty, out of obedience to Patrick. 
Then, according to the order of his Master (the Lord being his 
pilot), he came in his boat against the stream, as far as the ford 
of Trim, near the fort of Feidlimid [Felimy], son of Loiguire 
[Leary]. And when it was morning, Foirchern, son of Feidli- 
mid, found him reciting the Gospel ; and, admiring the Gospel 
and his doctrine, immediately believed : and, a well being opened 
in that place, he was baptized by Loman, in Christ ; and remained 
with him until his mother came to look for him ; and she was 
made glad at his sight, because she was a British woman. But 
she likewise believed, and again returned to her house and told 
to her husband all that had happened to her and her son. And 
then Feidlimid was glad at the coming of the priest, because 
he had his mother from the Britons, — the daughter of the King 

* Archdall, Monasticon Hibernicum. 

"We have been asked why we have not reduced our terrible, unpronounceable 
Irish names into something English, that people can read. This has, we feel, 
in a great part arisen from the Irish people being totally unacquainted with their 
history ; and until they become familiar with their country's history, those 
Irish names must, indeed, sound harsh and grating in their ears. 



st. mary's abbey. ^3 

of the Britons, — namely, Scothnoesa. And Feidlimid sainted 
Loman in the British tongue, asking him, in order, of his faith 
and kindred, and he answered, 'I am Loman, a Briton, a Chris- 
tian, a disciple of Bishop Patrick, who is sent from the Lord 
to baptize the people of the Irish, and to convert them to the 
faith of Christ ; who sent me here according to the will of God.' 
And immediately Feidlimid believed, with all his family, and 
dedicated (immolavit) to him and St. Patrick his country, with 
his possessions, and with all his family ; all these he dedicated 
to Patrick and Loman, with his son Foirchern, till the day of 
judgment. But Feidlimid crossed the Boyne, and Loman re- 
mained with Foirchern in Trim, until Patrick came to them, 
and built a church with them, twenty-two years before the 
foundation of the Church of Armagh." — Tircehan, as quoted 
by Ussher, Pinmordia, 853.* 

It must be remembered, that the Britons had Christianitv 
preached to them two centuries previously. The Church of 
Armagh here referred to stood on the north side of the river, 
and belonged to the see of Armagh. 

The original abbey, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 
stood, in all probability, upon the picturesque site of the 
Yellow Tower which in after ages was erected here, and is 
stated to be " the most lofty remnant of the Anglo-Xorman 
architecture now existing in Ireland." It was originally a 
square steeple, or abbey tower, of gothic architecture ; it is 
now upwards of 1 25 feet high, and consists of one perfect and 
two partial walls, which, thus leaving it open on the west, ex- 
hibit a series of stories in its interior. It was, in all probability, 
like many of the other early monastic remains, and the round 
towers in particular, used as a place of security and defence ; 
and its great height and commanding position may have caused 
it to be employed as a watch-tower over the surrounding 
country. Although the buildings of St. Mary's Abbey ad- 
joining have been removed, a considerable portion of their site 
can be traced. There is a tradition that Cromwell battered 
down a portion of this tower ; but we do not find any further 
authority for this assertion than mere local history : and there 
is scarcely a ruin along the Boyne, from this to Drogheda, 

* See some notices of the Church of St. Patrick, Trim, by the Eev. Eichard 
Butler. Dean of Clonmacnoise. 

G2 



84 



THE YELLOW STEEPLE. 



which is not said to bear evidence of his cannon. Gough, in- 
deed, in his additions to Camden, on the authority of the 
Gentleman's Magazine for 1784 (where there is a figure of this 
tower), asserts that one half of the Yellow Steeple " was de- 
molished by Oliver Cromwell, against whom it held out a con- 
siderable time, as a garrison ; a quarter of it being blown up 
by Cromwell, the top overhangs several feet ;" but considerable 
dilapidations have occurred in it since then. The accompany- 
ing illustration represents the Sheep-gate of Trim, and the 
Yellow Steeple in the distance. 




This abbey of St. Mary's, to which the "Yellow Steeple" was 
attached, together with the other abbeys of Trim, always main- 
tained the most friendly intercourse with the Court of Eng- 
land, and particularly favoured the house of York.* The 
De Lacys are said to have re-edified and endowed it. 



* The abbots of Trim, and the barons in its neighbourhood, particularly 
favoured the impostor, Lambert Simmel, who was ridiculously crowned in 
Christ Church, Dublin, as Edward the Sixth of England. 



MONASTIC ANNALS. 85 

A cloictheach, or round tower, formerly existed at Trim, 
the burning of which by Conor O'Melaghlin, in 1108, and by 
Conor Feargal O'Lochlinn, in 1127, is mentioned in several 
of the Irish Annals. Like Clonard, the ecclesiastical buildings 
at Trim suffered various conflagrations ; but neither our space, 
nor the character of this work, permit us to follow out the well- 
recorded annals of this or the other abbeys and monastic re- 
mains along our track, — consisting of notices of the celebrated 
persons who flourished or were interred in them, poets, priests, 
and warriors, mail-clad barons and palmer knights, holy nuns 
and pious monks ; the various miracles wrought in these mo- 
nasteries ; the plunderings, seizures, and dilapidations they sus- 
tained; the records of the privileges which they enjoyed, and 
the broad lands they occupied ; together with the offerings of 
the devotional, and the various plagues (from which Meath suf- 
fered so frequently and so severely) ; — which form the records 
of these establishments, — highly interesting, no doubt, in their 
way, but merely valuable to us for the epochs which they 
mark, and the historic facts which they attest. 

The Grey Friary of Observantines stood by the water's edge, 
near the site of the present court-house, but all trace of it 
has been long since completely effaced. 

The Black Friary of the Dominicans was founded by Geoffrey 
de Geneville, Lord of Meath, in 1263, to which he subsequently 
retired on the accession of Roger de Mortimer, his heir in right 
of his wife in that territory. SeveralParliaments were held here, 
in one of which, in 1446, it was enacted that the Irish should 
cut their beards according to the English fashion, and not wear 
yellow shirts. Some meagre remains of this friary still exist 
near the site of the abbey-gate, on the northern side of the 
town, and without the ancient wall. It is much to be regretted 
that more of the history of the illustrious founder of this abbey 
has not come down to modern times. Geoffrey de Geneville, or 
De Joinville, was of noble birth, a native of Champagne, and 
brother to the celebrated Jean de Joinville, the companion and 
historian of St. Louis. Geoffrey was a most distinguished states- 
man, and the confidential friend of Edward I., by whom he 
was employed in most of the great diplomatic affairs of Eng- 
land at that time, both at home and abroad. About the mid- 
dle of the thirteenth century he joined the Crusaders, and re- 
mained for some time in the Holy Land. After his return in 



86 GEOFFREY DE GENEVILLE. 

1273, he was appointed Lord Justice of Ireland; and in virtue 
of his wife, Maude, sister to Gilbert de Lacy, he became pos- 
sessed of a large portion of the great Palatinate of Meath. 
After a most eventful history, he died on the 19th of October, 
1314, in the Black Friary, which he had founded. Dean But- 
ler, the historian of Trim, thus graphically alludes to this dis- 
tinguished character: — "It is to be lamented that our notices 
of the varied life of this great man are so meagre that we can- 
not fill up the outline of the young noble of Champagne wooing 
his wealthy bride in the court of England, retiring with her 
to her great seignories in Ireland, and joining with her in 
founding a religious house; — joining in a crusade to the Holy 
Land ; administering for a short time the government of his 
adopted country ; busy for years in the councils and campaigns 
of the bold and politic Edward I. ; and closing his career by 
the resignation of his lordship of Meath to his youthful grand- 
daughter and her ambitious husband, and ending his days in 
the habit of a Dominican, in the cloister which he and his wife 
had built fifty years before. The following verses are quoted 
from I know not what monkish author, in the British Maga- 
zine, x. 670. The person to whom they relate had, like GeofFry, 
been a Crusader ; and they give a beautiful picture of such a 
life as GeofFry de Geneville may have led in our Black Abbey : 

" ' Ipse post militse bursum temporalis, 
Illustratus gratia doni spirituals, 
Esse Cbristi cupiens miles specialis, 
In hac domo monachus factus est claustralis. 

" ' Ultra modum placid us, dulcis et benignus, 
Ob zetatis senium candidus ut cygnus, 
Blandus et affabilis, ac amari dignus, 
In se Sancti Spiritus possidebat pignus. 

" ' Nam sanctam ecclesiam ssepe frequentabat, 
Missarum mysteria lsetus auscultabat, 
Et quas scire poterat laudes personabat, 
Ac caelestem gloriam mente ruminabat. 

" ' Ejus conversatio dulcis et jocosa, 

Valde commendabilis et religiosa, 
Ita cunctis fratribus fuit gratiosa. 
Quod nee gravis exstitit nee fastidiosa.' 

" We may easily suppose that the old Crusader, who had 
been employed in the wars and embassies of the time, had tales 



THE MILITARY REMAINS AT TRIM. 87 

of travel and of danger which would make him a very accept- 
able companion in a monastery ; and we may imagine, as he 
roamed about it, — 

" ' Hie per claustrum quotiens transiens meavit, 
Hinc et hinc ad monachos caput inclinavit, 
Et sic nutu capitis eos salutavit, 
Quos affectu intimo plurimum amavit.' " 

There were also a nunnery and a Greek church at Trim, 
which latter has been supposed to afford some evidence of a 
Grecian people settling in Ireland. Sir James Ware says : " I 
confess, indeed, that there remain some small traces of the an- 
cient Grecians having been in this country, in a church at 
Trim, in Meath, called Giwcorum Ecclesia ;" but as the only 
foundation for this supposition merely consists in the name, 
it may as likely have been given from some peculiarity in the 
doctrines or form of worship of those who frequented it, or from 
some similarity in its architecture to the Grecian or Pelasgic 
type, as we now speak of Grecian, Cyclopean, Roman, Saxon, 
or Norman masonry in some of our early churches. The ques- 
tion is still an open one. 

The military buildings of Trim next claim our attention. 

We have neither space nor inclination to enter into the 
much-mooted question as to whether the Irish possessed cas- 
tles and military fortifications of that nature, prior to the ar- 
rival of the English, in the twelfth century. Besides the 
raths to which we have already alluded, they certainly had se- 
veral very ancient fortresses, or circular duns of Cyclopean 
masonry, with walls of immense thickness, containing circular 
passages within them, and erected on highly defensible and 
commandiDg situations, — on rocks, islands, promontories, and 
isolated blocks of massive rock, on the level plains, like the 
ancient acropoles of the Greeks and Orientals, or on natural 
mounds in the midst of swamps and morasses ; but these 
were constructed without mortar or cement. Several such 
acropoles are already well known, and their sites determined. 
The use of lime cement, and the accurate adjustment of the 
stones according to certain rules of masonry, were, however, 
well known to, and extensively employed by the Irish, centuries 
before the arrival of the English in this country, of which we 
have innumerable examples in the round towers, missionary 



88 IRISH CASTLES ANTECEDENT TO THE ENGLISH INVASION. 

churches, and early ecclesiastical buildings, centuries before 
the conquest; and we may well suppose that, with such a 
knowledge of architecture, the Irish chieftains and their archi- 
tects and artisans would have erected castles of defence and 
security for life and property, against the inroads of the neigh- 
bouring tribes, during those centuries of civil war with which 
this country was distracted, as well as against the descents of 
the plundering Dane and fierce Northman, during the ninth, 
tenth, and eleventh centuries at least. But, besides these spe- 
culations, we have positive historic assurances of the use of lime 
cement in the ancient Irish palaces; and we have authentic 
records of castles after this fashion having been built, particu- 
larly by the 0' Conors of Connaught, antecedent to the Eng- 
lish invasion of Henry II. The castles of Gal way, Dunlo (now 
Balinasloe), and Colooney, in Sligo, were built in 1125. Tur- 
lough More O' Conor, monarch of Ireland, built the castle and 
bridge of Athlone in the summer of 1129, called the dry sum- 
mer. The castle of Tuam, called "Castellum Mirificum," built 
by Roderic O' Conor, was also long prior to the date of the 
Invasion.* The castle of Cullintragh in Meath, the strong- 
hold of O'Melaghlin, was demolished by Roderick, son of Tur- 
lough O'Conor, in 1155, and in the same year O'Melaghlin in 
retaliation destroyed the fortress and bridge of Athlone. That 
such buildings bore no comparison in strength, skill, or ex- 
tent to those erected by the English here, there can be also little 
doubt. One can easily account for the almost total obliteration 
of these remains, while the relics of ecclesiastical architecture, 
many of which were constructed without lime or mortar, still 
remain. With regard to the first, every circumstance combined 
to dilapidate them, and the great superiority of the fortresses 
and castellated mansions of the English, in a short time ren- 
dered the Irish strongholds useless ; while the most powerful 
of all feelings, — religious veneration, — a feeling common to the 
conquerors and the conquered, continued to preserve the lat- 
ter, if not from desecration, at least from total annihilation ; 
and the more distant from the theatre of war, and the scene of 
the early Anglo-Norman colonization, the more perfect have 
these sacred relics been preserved, and the longer have the 



* See also note at page 12. 



THE IRISH IN 1835. 89 

ancient manners, habits, and customs of our people been re- 
tained.* 

We do not think the term " Saxon," so frequently employed 
in modern Irish writings referring to this period, is correct. 
The colonization was Anglo-Norman. "We find that the fa- 
milies who became Anglo- Irish clans here were chiefly Nor- 
man, viz, : Butlers, Burkes, Barrys, Fitzgeralds, De Lacys, De 
Courcys. Many Welsh families settled here also, as Joyces, 

* We cannot forbear mentioning the following circumstance as corrobora- 
tive of this opinion. Shortly after the British Association met in Dublin, in 
1835, we spent a -week in the island of Achill, and there witnessed some 
scenes and modes of life which it coidd scarcely be credited were passing at 
one end of this small kingdom, while at the other the savans of Europe and 
America were met to discourse on science. There are several villages in 
Achill, particularly those of Keeme and Keele, where the huts of the inhabi- 
tants are all circular or oval, and built for the most part of round, water- 
washed stones, collected from the beech, and arranged, without lime or any 
other cement, exactly as we have good reason to suppose the habitations of 
the ancient Firbolgs were constructed ; and very similar to many of the an- 
cient monastic cells and oratories of the fifth and sixth centuries, which reli- 
gious veneration and the wild, untrodden situations where they are located, 
have still preserved in this country. Those of our readers who have ever 
passed the Minaune or Goat's Track, on the towering cliff that rises above the 
village of Keele, with the glorious prospect of Clew Bay and the broad swell 
of the western Atlantic before them, and have looked down upon the pigmy 
dwellings, resembling an Indian wigwam, scattered over the beach beneath, 
may call to mind the scene we describe. During the spring, the entire popu- 
lation of several of the villages we allude to in Achill, close their winter dwel- 
lings, tie their infant children on their backs, earn- with them their loys, and 
some corn and potatoes, with a few pots and cooking utensils, drive their cattle 
before them, and migrate into the hills, where they find fresh pasture for their 
flocks ; and there they build rude huts, or summer-houses, of sods and wattles, 
called booleys, and then cultivate and sow with corn a few fertile spots in the 
neighbouring valleys. They thus remain for about two months of the spring 
and early summer, till the corn is sown ; their stock of provisions being ex- 
hausted, and the pasture consumed by their cattle, they return to the shore, 
and eke out a miserable and precarious existence, by fishing, &c. Xo further 
care is ever taken of the crops ; indeed they seldom even visit them, but re- 
turn in autumn, in a manner similar to the spring migration, to reap the corn 
and afford sustenance to their half-starved cattle. With these people it need 
scarcely be wondered that there is annually a partial famine. 

Spencer relates that the Irish, like the ancient Scythians, " kept their cattle 
and lived themselves the most part of the year in Boolies [cow-houses], pas- 
turing upon the mountain and waste wild places, and removing still to fresh 
land as they have depastured the former." Several laws were made to prevent 
this indiscriminate grazing on the borders of the Pale. See also the Statute 
of Kilkenny in the Archaeological publications, p. 41. 



90 THE SAXON — WHO ? 

Barretts, "Walshes ; but we had no early chieftain of the "Saxon 
race," which appears to have been less warlike than the Nor- 
mans. The Saxons had no castles of stone at any time, and 
they had few laws. The truth is, they were an inferior 
buddagh race, and their history has been made too much of 
by modern writers. We had no Saxons here till the reign of 
Elizabeth, except some farmers in Forth and Bargie, and a few 
villani or buddaghs who followed the fortunes of the great 
Anglo-Norman warriors, and settled in Meath and elsewhere ; 
but these were mere serfs. It was Cromwell who poured the 
great flood of Saxon blood into Ireland. 

There is no evidence of the existence of a castle, or any mi- 
litary building, at Trim, anterior to the date of the English 
invasion. If the O'Melaghlins, the original monarchs of Meath, 
possessed a stronghold here, no record of it has come down to 
modern time. As we have already stated, Henry II. bestowed, 
for the service of fifty knights, the fertile territory of Meath 
upon the celebrated Hugh de Lacy ; who fixed on Trim as his 
residence, and built there, about the year 1 173, a strong castle, 
surrounded by a deep moat, into which it is most likely the 
water oftheBoyne was conducted. Having established his 
power and authority in this part of the kingdom, the Norman 
baron departed for England, leaving his stronghold at Trim 
in the custody of Hugh Tyrrell. 

" To destroy this castle, Roderick O'Connor, King of Con- 
naught, assembled a large army ; and Tyrrell, having despatched 
messengers to Earl Strongbow, beseeching him to come to his 
aid, and finding himself too weak to resist the multitudes 
brought against him, he abandoned the castle and burned it. 
The Irish king, having thus obtained his object, returned to 
his own country ; and Earl Strongbow, who was advancing to 
the relief of Trim, meeting on his way with intelligence that 
the castle was burned, marched on, and when he came there 
he found neither castle nor house to lodge in ; wherefore he 
made no stay, but pursued the enemy, and fell upon their rear, 
of whom 150 were slain; which done, he returned to Dublin, 
and Hugh Tyrrell to the ruined castle of Trim, to re-edify the 
same before Hugh De Lacy's return out of England. 

" Giraldus Cambrensis says, that, ' on hearing of this inroad 
of Roderick into Meath, Raymond le Gros, although the news 
reached him at Wexford the day of his marriage with Basilia, 



THE DEATH OF HUGH DE LACY. '91 

sister of Earl Strongbow, marched the next day to oppose him, 
not being overcome either by love or by wine ; that Koderick, 
who had had previous experience of his valour, retreated at his 
approach ; and that Eaymond repaired the castles of Meath, 
that is to say, of Trym and of Duleek, which had been wasted 
by Hugh Tyrell.' " 

The tragical end of the first English lord of Meath is already 
well known : he is said to have been murdered by an Irish 
labourer, while directing some work at the castle which he 
was building at Durrow, in the King's County. De Lacy 
having stooped forward at the moment, the man nearly severed 
his head from his body, at a single blow, with a sharp axe, 
which he had concealed for the purpose beneath his clothes. 

Such is the version of this affair pawned upon the world by 
the Jesuit Campion, and copied by Hanmer, Harris, and has 
even been repeated by Moore ; passing, like any story of the 
present day, from hand to hand, till it is now generally re- 
ceived as authentic history. Keating, it is true, endeavoured 
to rectify the error, but he was not attended to. The fruitful 
source of this, like innumerable other false statements in the 
works of writers upon the history of Ireland, has been their 
total ignorance of the language in which these statements were 
written, and their trusting (even if honest) to incorrect trans- 
lations or garbled extracts. 

In the Archaeological and Celtic publications we perceive 
the dawn of a clearer, if not a brighter day for true Irish his- 
tory ; but the morning of that day has been ushered in by the 
publication, by Mr. O'Donovan, of the great work of Irish 
history, generally known as the " Annals of the Four Mas- 
ters," so often referred to in this little work. 

The true story is this. About the middle of the sixth century, 
Columbkille having obtained a grant of land from a chieftain 
named Brendan, in the King's County, at a place called Dair- 
Mahg, or the "plain of the oaks" (now Durrow), erected there 
a monastery, which subsequently became very celebrated. 
"Well, some centuries after, comes the English baron, Hugh 
De Lacy, — the acknowledged destroyer of churches, — and 
erects his castle beside it, and even with some of the very ma- 
terials, it is said, of the ancient abbey, which he destroyed. This 
naturally excited the wrath of the rightful heirs, the descen- 
dants of the ancient lord of Dair-Mahg, the renowned Brendan. 



92 THE DEATH OF HUGH DE LACY. 

These were, the O'Caharney, chief of Teffia, well known under 
the soubriquet of Sinnach, or " The Fox," and O'Brien, chief 
of Brawney. Now, as may be shown from unquestionable au- 
thorities, the man who slew De Lacy was no Irish labourer, 
but a young soldier of the household of O'Caharney, who was 
remarkably swift of foot. The fact is recorded in the " Annals 
of Ulster," the " Annals of the Four Masters," and also more 
fully in the " Annals of Kilronan," from which latter we quote 
the following account: 

" A. D. 1186 Hugo de Lacy went to Durrow, to make a 

castle there, having a countless number of the English with 
him, for he was King of Meath, Brefny, and Oriel, and it was 
to him the tribute of Connaught was paid, and he it was that 
won all Ireland for the English. Meath, from the Shannon to 
the sea, was full of his castles and English followers. After 
the completion of this work by him, that is, the erection of the 
castle of Durrow, he came out to look at the castle, having 
three Englishmen along with him. Then came there one youth 
of the men of Meath up to him, having his battle-axe concealed, 
namely, Gilla-gan-innaher O'Meyey, the foster-son of the Fox 
(O'Caharney) himself, and gave him one blow, so that he cut 
off his head, and he fell, both head and body, into the ditch of 
the castle." — Annals of Kilronan, T. CD."* 

And the Four Masters take up the narration of this event, 
and inform us that Gilla-gan-innaher escaped by flight into 
the neighbouring wood of Kilclare, where the Irish chieftains 
were awaiting him. 

What a prolific theme for the novelist the stirring dramatic 
events of this period of Irish history would prove, — what a ro- 
mance a Sir Walter Scott would have made of the whole story 
of the English invasion, and this incident in particular ; and 
until some great historical novelist arises, Irish history and Irish 
scenery and manners will not be known, and consequently not 
valued, by the educated classes, either here or in England. 

* See also the Annals of the Four Masters, A. D. 1186, with O'Donovan's 
note thereon. 

It is a remarkable circumstance, that almost on the very spot on which 
Hugh de Lacy was slain, Lord Norbury, the late possessor of Castle Durrow, 
or Durrow Abbey, as he styled his new mansion, was murdered a few years 
ago ; and it is said that he also interfered with the rights appertaining to the 
adjoining abbey. 



king John's visit to Ireland. 93 

De Lacy's body was detained for several years by the Irish, 
who then attacked the castle, but it was at last restored, and 
buried with great solemnity at Bective Abbey, while his head 
was carried to Dublin, and interred in the Abbey of St. Thomas, 
in the tomb of his wife, Rosa de Monmouth. This division of 
the remains of the unfortunate De Lacy gave rise to a fierce 
dispute between the two abbeys, as to which should possess 
both, and the controversy arose to such a pitch that the mat- 
ter was referred to the supreme Pontiff at Eome. It was finally 
decided that the body should go along with the head ; and it 
is supposed to have been removed to Dublin about the year 
1205. Gerald of Cambria thus described this remarkable 
man: 

" If you will know what manner of man Hugh de Lacie was, 
you shall understand his eies were blacke and deepe, and his 
nose somewhat flat, like that of an ape ; and the right side of 
his face, from the chin upwards, by a mischance, was schrew- 
olie skalled ; his neck was short, and his bodie hairie, as also 
not fleshie, but sinewish and strong compact ; his stature was 
but small, and his proportion deformed; but in construction 
he was verie sober, trustie, and modest. He was verie carefull 
in his own private matters, but in causes of government and 
in all public affairs he was most vigilant and carefull: and 
albeit he were a verie good souldier, and one of great expe- 
rience in martial affairs ; yet in his sundrie adventures, wherein 
he was sometimes rash and verie hastie, he sped not alwaies 
best, nor has the best success. He was verie greedie and co- 
vetous of wealth and possessions, but over much ambitious of 
honours and reputation." 

In 1210 King John arrived in Ireland, and spent the second 
and third days of July at Trim; but although the present 
castle is called after him, it does not appear that he lodged at 
any castle at Trim, — if there was one at that time fit for his 
reception ; and his writs are dated " apud Pratum subtus, 
Trim," — the field now called the King's Park. What a volume 
might be written on royal visits to Ireland; — by whom made, 
under what circumstances, with what objects or inducements; 
what was the condition of the country, what the mode of re- 
ception, what the state of manners at the time of each ; — from 
the days of Henry II. to those of Queen Victoria in this pre- 
sent year, 1849- 



94 THE CASTLE OF TRIM. 

The present castle of Trim, which has been justly styled the 
finest specimen of Anglo-Norman military architecture in Ire- 
land, is generally believed to have been re-erected by Richard 
Peppard or Pipard, who, according to the Registry of Clogher, 
also built the castle of Donaghmoye, in Farney.* It occupies 
within its walls about two acres of ground, and stands on a slop- 
ing mound on the right bank of the Boyne, from the banks of 
which it presents a noble and commanding appearance. The 




great keep or donjon in the centre is a rectangular building, 
with massive square towers abutting from each side, and rising 
to a height of nearly eighty feet ; some parts of the wall are 
twelve feet in thickness. By the arrangement of its ground plan, 
it presented, when perfect, a figure of twenty sides, and the ex- 
ternal face is still in very excellent preservation, with the ex- 
ception of the tower facing the town gate, which is said to have 
been destroyed by the cannon of Cromwell. Some of the wind- 
ing staircases, by which the topmost turrets were reached, still 
enable the visitor to gain the highest pinnacle, from whence a 
view of immense extent and great interest is obtained. Stand- 
ing here, the eye ranges over many miles of the vast and fer- 
tile plains of Meath, with the Boyne sweeping through them, 
the various groups of ruins immediately beneath and around, 

* See some account of the Territory or Dominion of Farney, &c. By 
Evelyn Philip Shirley. 4to. London : Pickering. 1845. p. 17. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF WELLINGTON. 95 

the hills of Skreen and Tara, the mountains of Kildare and 
Dublin, the tower of Kells, and, in a word, a territory of which 
the lords of Trim may well have felt proud. The outer wall, 
which was surrounded by a deep fosse, through which the 
waters of the Boyne were originally admitted (thus completely 
insulating the fortress), is 486 yards in length, and defended 
by ten flanking towers at nearly equal distances. The gate 
towards the town, and the barbican, with the remains of their 
portcullisses, draw-bridges, and all the most approved military 
inventions of the day, are still in wonderful preservation. On 
the whole, we know of no castle in Ireland which affords the 
same scope for the study of the military architecture of the 
thirteenth century as this, which may justly be classed with 
those of Conway and Caernarvon. Within the wall, on the river 
side, we find the remains of a chapel, perhaps that used by the 
common soldiery ; while two niches, resembling piscinas, in the 
interior of one of the castle towers, mark the site of a small 
private chapel within. Adjoining the large chapel near the 
external wall are the remains of a tower supposed to have been 
the mint. 

Our space, however, will not permit our entering at any 
length into the details of this noble structure, connected with 
which we find so many historic occurrences and classic asso- 
ciations. Besides those already enumerated, we cannot forget 
the pageants and tournaments of the celebrated Earl of Ulster ; 
the imprisonment of the families of the Dukes of Gloucester 
and Lancaster, during the time of Eichard of England's so- 
journ in this country; the confinement here of the royal hero 
of Agincourt ; its occupation by the De Lacys, the Mortimers, 
the Verdons, and Cootes ; its parliaments and its sieges ; — all 
which throw a degree of splendour over the ruins of Trim. 

But, great as these names and circumstances are, they pass 
into insignificance when compared with the celebrity which 
this place has acquired by its connexion with the greatest 
warrior and statesman of the day. It is generally, but erro- 
neously, believed that the Duke of Wellington was born in or 
near Trim ; but the evidence at present is altogether in favour 
of Dublin, and the honour of his birth-place is now awarded 
to the Eoyal Irish Academy House, originally Chichester 
House, where the Irish estates were forfeited after the Battle 
of the Boyne. The Registry of St. Peter's parish, in this city, 



96 

contains the following entry : " Arthur, son of the Earl and 
Countess Mornington, born 30th April, 1769." The house 
where " The Duke" resided for some time at Trim still stands 
at the corner of Dublin- Gate- street. 

The borough of Trim has the honour of having returned the 
Duke of Wellington, on his twenty-first birth-day, to represent 
it in the Irish Parliament; and, in 1817, the gentry of Meath 
erected a Corinthian column on the fair-green of this town, to 
commemorate the military achievements of our distinguished 
countryman, whose early life and history is so intimately con- 
nected with this ancient town. 

There were two other castles at Trim besides that just de- 
scribed, the castle of the Nangles and the castle of the Talbots, 
both of which stand behind the modern town upon the north 
side of the river and in the neighbourhood of the Yellow Steeple. 
The latter was built by the celebrated Sir John Talbot, Lord 
Lieutenant of Ireland in 1415, "The Scourge of France." 

" So much feared abroad 



That with his name the mothers still their babes." 

This building was until lately the Diocesan School of Meath, 
when it acquired an additional celebrity from the Duke of 
Wellington having been for some time at school there. In it 
also was educated another distinguished Irishman, Sir William 
Hamilton, our Astronomer Eoyal. At present the building 
possesses little to attract attention except a tablet in the 
northern wall bearing the Talbot arms, quartered with those 
of Furnival. 

Dangan, one of the seats of the Wellesley family, and where 
the Duke spent many of his boyish days, is distant about five 
miles from Trim, but is now completely dilapidated, and has 
long since passed out of the hands of the Wellesley family. 

A locality, however, of still greater interest than that of 
Dangan, presents itself within two miles of Trim, and one 
which, like the former (with which it is in a certain degree 
connected), has been permitted to fall into utter ruin and ne- 
glect. We allude to Laracor, the early residence of Dean 
Swift. 

It is a dark, secluded locality, into which one would sup- 
pose a breath of the busy world without never entered ; a spot 
more uncongenial to the anxious thoughts and high ambition 



LARACOR; SWIFT AND STELLA. 97 

of the Irish patriot can scarcely be imagined; but he had here 
other charms and more endearing associations, to which even 
the votaries of politics and philosophy are not inaccessible. 
Here Stella and Mrs. Dingley lived, and here they sauntered 
through the quiet roads with Dr. Raymond, the Vicar of Trim, 
and with the future author of " Gulliver" and the " Drapier's 
Letters." Here, on this very bridge which spans the noiseless 
streamlet, with its sedgy margins of willows and alders, must 
Swift have often mused; (for who is there that has not mused 
upon a bridge's battlements when gazing on the current be- 
neath ?) Beside this bridge, on the right-hand side of the 
road, once stood the residence, and around it the well-stocked 
garden, of the Dean, but the whole is now (or was when we 
last visited it) an ill- tilled potato garden ; yet, without guide 
or cicerone, we were able to trace, from the recollection of the 
scene as described in the journal to Stella, the pond and bath 
which existed in this garden, the boundary of its ancient walls, 
the site of the very willows, some of whose posterity still exist, 
which hung over the stream, and beneath which the Dean and 
Esther Johnson so often walked. Some remnants of the brick 
wall which enclosed the garden, and the stands on which some 
bee-hives stood, were discovered a few years ago ; but briars 
and thorns, rank sedge, and luxuriant weeds, are yearly oblite- 
rating even the faint traces we refer to. Of the house, a small 
portion of one of its gable ends is all that now exists; even this, 
thick and massive as it is, will soon have crumbled away, for, to 
the disgrace of those connected with the rectory, two wretched 
cabins have been erected within the site of the walls of Swift's 
glebe at Laracor. 

In front of this residence stands a very perfect sepulchral 
mound, similar to that which we described already at Clonard, 
but very much smaller ; and beyond this we find the old parish 
church, to which Swift ran the race with Delany, and where 
" my dearly beloved Roger" officiated as clerk. Within this 
Church we find a handsome monument erected to the last 
Wesley, or Wellesley, who bequeathed his name and his estate 
to the ancestor of the present Duke of Wellington. 

About a mile nearer Trim is pointed out the cottage which 
Stella and Mrs. Dingley occupied; but this is somewhat apo- 
cryphal. 



98 NEWTOWN-TRIM. 

We might now conduct our readers over the numerous 
other interesting remains which still hallow and adorn Ath- 
Truim, — the ancient steeple of its parish church, erected in 
1449 by Richard Duke of York, — the remnants of the town 
wall, which mark the ancient boundary, with its Sheep and 
Water-gates, still wonderfully perfect. We might visit the 
site of the meeting of its last parliament, speculate upon the 
locality of its mint, or enumerate the various coinages struck 
there; we might occupy pages with its annals; the miracles 
said to be wrought in its abbeys ; the sieges which it sustained ; 
the plagues with which it was visited ; and the conflagrations 
which it suffered; — but neither our space nor the object of 
this book admit of this. 

Somewhat less than a mile below Trim, within a magnificent 
sweep of the river, and beside the bridge of Newtown, on both 
sides of which they extend, we find a group of monastic re- 
mains which, with the exception of the Yellow Steeple, far 
surpass any of those now existing at Trim ; the abbey of St. 
Peter and St. Paul, with the remains of the ancient cloister; 
and the broad parterre, or terrace, which stretched down to the 
water's edge, and where the good monks of old quaffed their 
wine by the banks of the Boyne, in the calm summer evenings, 
before the vesper bell summoned the community to worship. 
Unlike the military and ecclesiastical ruins of many other lo- 
calities in Ireland, choked by the dilapidated buildings of some 
wretched dirty town, like the rank weeds of a neglected gar- 
den obscuring its urns and statues, those of Newtown- Trim 
stand alone and distinct on a swelling bank of the river, whose 
stream seems here to linger by them, as if in memory of their 
by-gone splendour, and stretch, without even a wall or fence 
to break the foreground, over nearly an acre of the richest turf, 
and surrounded by the greenest verdure in the broad plains 
of Meath. 

In 1206 the English prelate, Simon de Rochfort, already 
mentioned, founded here an abbey of Canons Regular, of the 
order of St. Victor, and removed the episcopal see of Clonard 
to this spot. This haughty churchman, who appears to have 
enjoyed the confidence and support of the powerful De Lacys, 
seems to have possessed almost unbounded sway in the province 
of Meath at this period. He abolished several of the minor 
bishoprics, and had himself created sole Bishop of Meath, 



THE ABBEY OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. 



99 



under which title his successors* sat next in rank to the arch- 
bishops, as lords spiritual in the Irish Parliament ; and he ap- 
pears to have assumed an authority over the Irish clergy in 
this part of the kingdom, little inferior to that which the newly- 
imported Norman barons did over the laity. His settlement 
here, under the very walls of the time-honoured chapels and 
priories of Trim, the foundations of Patrick and his immediate 
successors, must have been no small cause of offence to the 
jealous churchmen of that ancient town; but, like the dust of 
their founders, both are now 

"Mingled in peace." 

The principal ruins consist of the monastery, with its usual 
appendages, and the remains of the ancient cathedral of St. 
Peter and St. Paul, which is one of the most elegant structures, 
and perhaps one of the very earliest specimens of the light 
pointed Gothic, in the kingdom. Portions of the southern 
wall, and of the eastern and western ends, still remain. Ivies, 




centuries old, of enormous size, yet still of the freshest green, 
cluster round and mantle over these ruins, particularly about 
the eastern window, which now lies open to the ground, and is 

* Dr. Lanigan, however, states that, in or "about 1194, died Eugene, 
Bishop of Clonard, who, a little before his death, assumed the title of Bishop 
of Meath, which his successors have since used ;" the same authority believed 
that this title was used bv Bishop Idunan, as far back as the year 1096. 

h2 



100 



THE DILLON MONUMENT. 



some fifty feet in height, affording, in several points of view, 
those beauteous framings to the neighbouring landscapes to 
which we already alluded. 

" Where the ivy hangs in masses, 
Like a clustering mantle thrown, 
And the many-feathered grasses 
Quiver o'er the sculptured stone. 

On the desolation stealing, 

With a step of mournful grace, 
All the harsher tints concealing 

Of each ruin's blanching face." 

In the walls of a small parish church adjoining are seen the 
sculptured tomb of one of the mitred ecclesiastics, besides se- 
veral portions of beautifully carved imposts, flowery capitals, 
highly decorated mouldings, and other fragments of the abbey, 
several of which have been, within the last few years, erected 
there by the same friendly hand which has done so much to 
preserve the ruins of Trim. 

In front of this chapel we find the 
noble monument of the Dillons, which, 
with its fine bas reliefs, and its nume- 
rous armorial bearings, would take 
pages to describe. It is the " remains 
of a tomb erected to the memory of 
Sir Lucas Dillon, Chief Baron of the 
Exchequer in the reign of Queen Eli- 
zabeth, and the trusted friend of Sir 
Henry Sidney. It is an altar tomb, 
with the recumbent figures of Sir Lu- 
cas and his lady, Jane Bath, and adorn- 
ed with the arms of the Dillons, Baths, 
and Barnewalls, and with a shield 
bearing two bends. 

" Sir Eobert Dillon, father of Sir 
Lucas, was Attorney- General to Henry VIII. ; and, at the dis- 
solution of the monasteries, received from that king a grant of 
the lands of Newtown, where his brother Thomas was prior in 
1511. Sir Lucas, in 1568, had a grant of the abbey of the Vir- 
gin Mary of Trim, and of the towns of Ladyrath, Grange of 
Trim, Canonstown, and Rathnally. He was the builder of the 




DESTRUCTION OF THE REMAINS AT NEWTOWN. 101 

house of Moymett, and was the father of the first Earl of 
Eoscommon." 

The inscription, which is now defaced, is thus given by- 
Lodge (Roscommon) : 

" ' Militis hie Lucse Dillonis ossa quiescunt, 
Conciliis Regni sunimus, Buroq. supremus 
Mense Februarii decimus cum septimus instat, 
Tempora lustrali profusus flumine clausit, 
Terrenos linquens celestes sumpsit honores." 

Much of the adjoining ground is still used as a graveyard, 
and we regret to see throughout several fragments of the an- 
cient sculpture used as head- stones by the people. This de- 
struction, which has proceeded for so many years in all similar 
localities in the country, has in no small degree conduced to 
the dilapidation of several of our finest monasteries. Scarcely 
a day passes but several of the carved stones, and portions of 
doors and windows, are rudely torn from their situations, to 
be placed as head-stones ; and some means, though late, should 
even now be taken to rescue these remains from further demo- 
lition. Even the ancient tombstones, many of which contained 
valuable Irish inscriptions, have been removed, defaced, or 
broken.* The graveyard of Clonmacnoise affords a true and 
lamentable intance of what we assert; and many of the jambs 
and window-sills to the wretched cabins in the village of Cong, 
in the county of Mayo, are formed of portions of the beauti- 
fully carved pillars and cut stones of the neighbouring abbey. 

Archdall, on the authority of King, relates the history of a 
desperate murder committed at Newtown in 1307, when several 
of the friars, rebelling against the prior, killed two or three of 
their brethren, who endeavoured to oppose their entrance to 
the cellar. A synod was held here in 1216; and in 1486 one of 
its priors, Thomas Scurlock, was made Treasurer of Ireland. In 



* On a small tablet in the little church at Newtown we find the following 
inscription, which, in honour to the learned author, and because some barbarian 
has recently endeavoured to deface it, we here insert : 

" HAS ANTIQUE PIETATIS ET ARTIS RELIQtTIAS 

VICINI MONASTERII SS. PETRO ET PACLO DEDICATI 

OLIM ORNAMENTA 

PKOSTBATAS DITJ ET PEXE DETRITAS 

PARIETIBU3 HUJUS ECCLESI-E 

INFIGENDAS CURAVIT R. B. VICAR DE TRIM. 

A. D. M.DCCC.XLII." 



102 THE PRIORY OF ST. JOHN AT NEWTOWN. 

1488 its prior received the royal pardon, like those of his 
brethren, at Trim, for being concerned in the rebellion of Lam- 
bert Simnel. Its last prior was Laurence White, who surren- 
dered this priory and its possessions in June, 1533; and three 
years afterwards this house was suppressed by Parliament, 
and granted to King Henry VIII., when the establishment 
was found to consist of " a church, two towers, an hall, store- 
house, kitchen, brewhouse, two granaries, a pigeon-house and 
baggart ; also of four messuages, twenty acres of arable land, 
being part of their demesne on the south side of the river 
Boyne ; seventy acres of arable land, twelve of pasture, being 
part of the said demesne on the north side of the Boyne ; and 
the close, containing an acre of pasture; with three gardens in 
Newtown : annual value, besides reprisals, one hundred and 
one shillings and four pence;" besides above 550 acres of some 
of the finest land in Meath, a castle, several villages, gardens, 
and messuages, in different parts of the adjoining country. So 
that this must have been one of the richest monastic establish- 
ments in Ireland.* 

A few hundred yards further on, beyond the old bridge, 
on the southern side of the river, are the castle-like re- 
mains, consisting of a large square keep, immediately adjoin- 
ing the bridge, with square towers at two of its angles; and 
somewhat lower down the river, but connected with it by a 
range of buildings, we meet a second smaller tower. Besides 
these, the walls of this extensive enclosure contain the ruins 
of a small chapel, with a beautiful triple window ; and also a 
light circular turret by the roadside, which probably com- 
manded the gate. This must have been always an important 
post, as it commanded one of the approaches to Trim ; and the 
church militant here could have afforded every necessary pro- 
tection to the extensive ecclesiastical establishments adjoining. 
The Hospital or Priory of St. John the Baptist stood here, and 
some of the remains which still exist within the general en- 
closure were erected in the thirteenth century for friars of the 
order of Cross-bearers, or Crouched Friars, a fraternity who 
wore a cross embroidered on their habit, and devoted them- 
selves to the redemption of Christian captives. 

* The ruins of Newtown form fruitful subjects for the painter. In the exhi- 
bition of paintings, at present open in Dublin, may be seen a very charming 
little sketch of these ruins by Mr. Connolly. 



103 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM TRIM TO NAVAN. 

SCURtOGSTOWN ; ITS TUMULUS, CHURCH, AND CASTLE.— TRUBLY.— BECTTYE ABBEY.— INTERMENT 
OF HCGH DE LACT.— CLADY ; ITS SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBERS, CHURCH, AND ANCIENT FOOT- 
BRIDGE.— THE HOUSE OF CLETTY.— RIVERSTOWN CASTLE.— TABA ; ITS HISTORY AND ASSOCIA- 
TIONS ; ITS TOPOGRAPHY. — BATHS. — THE LLA-FAIL. — SKREEN. — HYMN OF ST. PATRICK. — ARD- 
SALLAGH.— ST. BRIDGET'S WELL.— KILCARN FONT.— ATHLUMNEY CASTLE ; ITS LAST OCCUPANT. 
—NAVAN ; RECENT DISCOVERIES THERE. 

Passing down the river from Newtown- Trim, its banks as- 
sume a more elevated and broken appearance, — now swelling 
gradually into long, undulating mounds, some of which have 
been lately planted, and now depressing into broad meadows, 
while the stream itself quickens its course, and its waters as- 
sume a brighter and more limpid character, but still dotted 
with islands, as in the previous portions of its course. Crown- 
ing the hill occupied by Newpark demesne, upon the northern 
bank, which will be found the most convenient route for the 
tourist, we find a very perfect circular military fort; and a 
little further down, upon its southern side, another group of 
ruins and ancient remains claims our attention, — the old 
castle, church, and mills of Scurlogstown, which here present 
from the river's bank an exceedingly picturesque appearance. 

In connexion with the neighbouring streamlet and mills, 
below the latter, in a deep, sequestered nook, formed by one 
of the niches in the river's bank, we find one of those sepul- 
chral mounds or barrows, so common along the Boyne, and 
beside it the site from which another was a few years ago 
removed for the purpose of manuring the adjoining fields. 
Some of the large flag-stones, which, no doubt, assisted to form 
the kistvaen, or central chamber, are still resting on the spot.* 

A little above the mill may be seen the ancient church, — one 
of those small early chapels with a circular chancel arch, and 
a trefoil east window, not uncommon in this part of the king- 

* This tumulus, the well-marked and extensive remains on the hill of Car- 
bury, the military rath at Clonard, the ancient Pagan remains at Clady, below 
Bective, the remains of the great rath at Teltown, and that at Donaghpatrick, 
are the only structures of that nature which we have not found marked on the 
Ordnance Maps. 



104 



SCURLOGSTOWN CASTLE. 



dom; and in the adjoining graveyard we lately observed a con- 
siderable portion of an ancient stone cross used as a head- 
stone ; — a relic in all probability older than the church itself. 
This was one of the smallest of our early churches, not being 
much above thirty feet in length. It is very likely as old as 
the twelfth century, and was granted to the Abbey of St. 
Thomas, in Dublin, in the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, by Walter de Lacy. 

The castle of Scurlogs- 
town, here figured, stands 
by the roadside, and com- 
mands a most extensive 
prospect around ; and 
though possessing but lit- 
tle architectural adorn- 
ment, its outline is particu- 
larly pleasing. It was one of 
the strongest-built watch- 
towers of the Pale, and 
its having so few external 
apertures, its massive and 
gloomy walls, its tall towers, 
and unbroken battlements, 
give it such a stern appear- 
ance that on passing it one 
still expects to hear the war- 
der's challenge from its gate. 
It was built in 1 1 80, by Wil- 
liam de Scarlog, one of the Anglo-Norman fiefs of Meath. Its 
outward wall is still quite perfect, as are also some of its stone 
floors; it may be considered the type of several other English 
castles in this part of the country, as, for instance, at Asigh and 
Trubly, &c. ; consisting of a square keep or donjon, with round 
towers at the diagonal corners ; these turrets, having circular 
stairs in them, were entered by small doors from each of the 
floors, and they rise somewhat above the height of the square 
portion of the castle. A perpendicular crack traverses the 
entire extent of the eastern wall of this building, said to have 
been caused by the balls of Cromwell, whose progress up the 
Boyne from Trubly, where he slept the night after the siege 
of Drogheda, the constable of Scurlog's castle was hardy enough 
to challenge ; but, like many similar recitals of Cromwell's 




CONNEXION BETWEEN ANCIENT AND MODERN REMAINS. 105 

" crowning mercies" in Ireland, this rests for its authority 
more upon tradition than written history. Indeed we know 
nothing more required than an essay upon Cromwell's Irish 
campaign. Materials there are in abundance, but scattered 
throughout several works, and contained in State Papers, and 
other materials, to which, we are quite sure, an author could 
have ready access; and yet it is one of the most defective por- 
tions of modern Irish history.* 

We have here another example of the connexion and com- 
bination of ancient and modern remains to which we have al- 
ready alluded : — a pass upon the Boyne, memorable, no doubt, 
in some ancient Irish saga, as the scene of hostile fray by its 
banks ; a tumulus covering the sepulchre of the slain ; a 
Christian era antecedent to the Church, marked by the rude 
cross we spoke of ; the early Church itself telling of the sim- 
ple purity and religion of our forefathers; the gaunt, warlike 
form of the ancient castle pointing out the epoch of the great 
English invasion, and its walls bearing evidence of the Pro- 
tector's rule. 

The next point of beauty is Rathnally, where the banks rise 
on both sides to a considerable elevation ; and here some noble 
trees in the surrounding demesne, clad in the livery of sum- 
mer, with the highly cultivated state of the grounds, — the deep, 
sullen waters of the river, — the calm, Sabbath stillness of the 
scene, broken only by the cawing of the rooks, and the inter- 
rupted craik of the meadow rail, — the long, dark vistas through 
which the stream winds, — and the picturesque view of the ad- 
joining mills and mansion, form one out of the many charming 
landscapes which now adorn the Boyne, not here alone, but 
almost throughout the entire of the remainder of its course. 

" Oh! so green is the grass, so clear is the stream, 
So mild is the mist, and so rich is the beam, 
That beauty should ne'er to other lands roam, 
But make on the banks of this river its home."f 

Not only is the transition in the scenery of this, — the second 
division of the Boyne, — well marked, and totally distinct from 

* Our learned friend Mr. Hardiman has made a collection of all the docu- 
ments relating to Cromwell in Ireland, and it is hoped that the Irish Archaeo- 
logical Society will have funds sufficient to publish them. 

f The Banks of the Lee, by Thomas Davis. 



106 THE CASTLE OF TRUBLY. 

the previously described portion of the river, but the whole 
appearance of the country changes, and an air of healthy pros- 
perity, marked by the high state of cultivation, prevails, which 
is in vain sought for between Clonard and Trim. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hall, in their charming book on Ireland, speak- 
ing of this district, remark : " The hedges are remarkably 
luxuriant ; the trees (of which there is an unusual abundance) 
are of extraordinary growth ; and the fields have at all times 
and seasons that brilliant green so refreshing to the eye, and 
so cheering to the mind, when associated with ideas of comfort 
and prosperity. There is indeed no part of Ireland where the 
Englishman will find himself so completely at home ; for, 
added to great natural beauty, he sees on all sides the benefi- 
cial results of careful cultivation, and marks, in every direc- 
tion, the ordinary consequences of industry directed by science ; 
while the poverty and wretchedness that are elsewhere forced 
upon his attention is here so seldom perceptible, and the cla- 
morous voice of woe ' rarely intruded upon the ear.' "* 

Such, in particular, is the character of the scenery at the 
next point of interest as well as beauty — Trubly, — the river 
being here also completely shut out by its towering, wooded 
banks, from the roadside view. On a high, commanding 
knoll, on the southern bank of the Boyne, we still find in the 
haggard of its proprietor some remnant of the castle of Trubly, 
or Tubberville, the ancient seat of the Cusacks, who possessed 
it as early as the time of Eichard II. This originally con- 
sisted of a square keep, with circular corner towers, like that 
of Scurlogstown ; the foundations of the former can still be 
traced, and about twenty feet of one of the latter is yet stand- 
ing, looking, at some distance, and in some points of view, 
very like the butt or lower portion of a round tower. This is 
the castle which Cromwell is reported to have slept in on his 
march up the Boyne. Adjoining it is another isolated circu- 
lar tower, erected for a dove-cote, or pigeon-house; it is one 
of the most ancient and best built structures of that descrip- 
tion in the kingdom, and resembles very much the dove-cote 
in one of the towers in the outer wall of Trim castle. 

By an inquisition of 1663, the possessor of Trubly was found 

* Ireland ; its Scenery, Character, &c. By Mr. and Mrs. S. C Hall. Vol. 
ii. p. 373. 



TREASURE SEEKERS AND ROAD MAKERS. 107 

guilty of high treason ; and in the charter of James the Second, 
Nicholas Cusack, one of Tyrconnell's captains, who owned this 
castle at that period, was nominated Portrieve of Trim ; but 
at what period this border fortress was destroyed, whether 
from storm or by gradual dilapidation, does not appear. 

Stanihurst says that in his time the Irish, by which term 
he must mean the retainers, servants, and villagers in the vici- 
nity, * ; merely passed the night in these castles: the day was 
spent in mud walls covered with thatch, adjoining the castle 
and the bawn, which was surrounded with a hedge and ditch, 
and into which the cattle were driven in time of alarm. At 
night there was always a watchman on the top of the castle." 

Trubly is three miles from Trim, and about a mile further 
down the river we again cross the stream, by the bridge of Bec- 
tive, to visit the noble ruin beside it, which gives name to this 
locality and title to an Earl. As we approach from Trubly, 
the southern road cuts through a very fine mound of the se- 
pulchral kind, — indeed one of the largest, though not the 
highest, on this part of the Boyne, — although diminutive in 
comparison with those which shall engage our attention lower 
down. Partly for the gravel and small stones, of which it is 
for the most part composed, and partly from excavations made 
by the peasantry seeking for treasure, at various times, the 
top of this mound has been removed. There exist many le- 
gends in the country about this ancient cemetery, kept up by 
the idle dreams of an imaginative people, and these, coupled 
with the fact of some antique articles of value having been oc- 
casionally discovered there, have conduced, in no small degree, 
to cause these excavations, and thus to lessen its size. But we 
have heard of the doings of road contractors, — and the inten- 
tions of grand juries also! — with regard to the employment of 
the stones which form similar structures in other parts of 
Aleath, which should awaken the attention of those whose pa- 
triotism (for this really is one of the instances to which that 
term may at present be applied) is greater than their agricul- 
tural or macadamizing speculations. From this mound we 
obtain a charming prospect of the yellow battlemented walls 
and lichen-clad cloisters of the abbey ; and at a point nearly 
equidistant from the river, on the opposite bank, may be seen 
a fine specimen of the military raths or duns of the ancient 
colony who first passed up and settled upon this river's borders. 



108 



BECTIVE ABBEY. 



From the bridge of Bective, or Begty, situate midway be- 
tween Trim and Navan, we obtain a pleasing view of the ad- 
joining abbey, upon the left bank of the river. From this 
point the ruins present an imposing and picturesque appear- 
ance of a noble castellated mansion, rearing high its turrets, 
gables, and chimneys, and showing that its architect had both 
comfort and security in view. The tints which usually play 
upon the walls of Bective are of a richer and more varying 
hue than we have ever seen elsewhere. The square grey towers, 
gables, and chimneys, rendered in some parts perfectly golden 
by the most brilliant orange and yellow lichens, and in parts 
festooned with the dark-green drapery of the Irish ivy, rising 
out of the light feathery foliage of a plantation of young larch, 
and standing in the midst of a field of corn, which stretches 
between the ruins and the blue waters of the Boyne, form, 
upon a summer's evening, one of the most lovely objects in 
nature. 




The ruins of this great Cistercian monastery are among the 
most perfect in Meath, and enough still remains to enable the 
tourist to decide, with a tolerable degree of certainty, upon the 
original use of each compartment, and every room and cell in 
the building ; and as the present proprietor has enclosed them 
with a wall, they are less desecrated than most of the ecclesi- 
astical remains in Ireland. It is a fact, strange but true, that 



THE ANNALS OF BECTIVE. 109 

the peasant, -who will not (or rather who heretofore would 
not), for love or money, touch a stone, or remove a mound 
believed to be of Pagan origin, will wantonly pollute, or, for 
ordinary building purposes, dilapidate the noblest monastic 
structure, or the most sacred Christian edifice ! 

Around the ruins of Bective Abbey a young plantation is 
yearly obscuring its fair proportions. The dark, wide-spread- 
ing yew, the gnarled oak, the stunted elder, or the blasted 
ash, form fit companions for the crumbling wall and falling 
arch ; but those young trees are anything but suited to the 
locality, and will, in a short time, completely hide the lower 
portions of this noble pile. Whether domestic comforts, more 
than piety and self-mortification, influenced the founders and 
early tenants of this monastery, or that the condition of the 
country at the time required a castellated mansion for defence, 
rather than an edifice erected for the service of religion, it is 
difficult to say ; but certain it is that while we are able satis- 
factorily to trace the various halls, corridors, kitchens, galle- 
ries, courts, dormitories, and cloisters, it is with great diffi- 
culty we can decide upon the situation of the church. Two 
tall, lancet-shaped arches outside the enclosure on the north- 
eastern side, and the remains of a handsome window, which 
splays outward from the great court of the building, would 
lead us to conjecture that it must have been situate adjoining 
that point. Some have, however, supposed that it stood over 
the gallery which formed the southern enclosure of the court- 
yard. 

This abbey, called in Irish Sendrede, or " the Old Bridge," 
was founded from Mellifont, in the middle of the twelfth cen- 
tury, by Murchard O'Melaghlin, King of Meath, for monks of 
the great Cistercian order,* under the title of the Abbey de 
Beatitudine, and dedicated to the Virgin. The endowment was 
remarkably rich, the demesne consisting of 245 acres, besides 
a mill and fishing weir on the Boyne. The lord abbot of Bec- 
tive sat as a spiritual peer in Parliament, one of the fifteen 
abbots then entitled to that dignity in Ireland. 

There is a remarkable historic incident attached to this an- 
cient house. After the murder of Hugh de Lacy at Durrow, 
in 1 186, an account of which we gave at page 91, the body was 

11 It is the only Cistercian building in Meath. See Grace's Annals, p. 107. 



110 THE INTERMENT OF HUGH DE LACY. 

not recovered till 1 195, when " the Archbishop of Cashel, Le- 
gate of Ireland, and John Archbishop of Dublin, brought from 
the Irish country the body of Hugh Lacy (who had conquered 
Meath), and buried it in the Abbey Beatitudine, that is, of 
Bective; his head they buried in the church of St. Thomas, 
Dublin."* Now, as this latter establishment had been founded 
by one of the Anglo-Norman barons, William Fitz-Adelm, a 
companion of the great Palatine, by whom also it was largely 
endowed, the brotherhood of St. Thomas claimed the rest of 
the remains from the monks at Bective. As we already re- 
marked at page 93, a fierce controversy ensued amongst the 
rival churchmen on this subject, as to which abbey should 
possess both the relics ; and, as in all Irish ecclesiastical dis- 
putes, then, as now, the Pope was appealed to for his decision. 
Innocent III. appointed the celebrated Simon Rochfort, then 
Bishop of Meath, and his archdeacon, together with Gilebert, 
the prior of Duleek, to arbitrate between the belligerents, and 
they awarded the corpse to the monks of St. Thomas, to which 
place it was accordingly removed. Such was the estimation in 
which the remains of a viceroy were held in Ireland in the 
twelfth century ! 

An arcade of pointed cinquefoil arches, supported by light 
clustered pillars, decorated with elegantly carved capitals, 
separates the cloister from the court-yard or quadrangle, on 
the southern side ; and beneath one of these tradition says 
that the great Lord Palatine was buried. The carving of this 
colonnade is, from the hardness of the Ardbraccan stone, of 
which it is built, and the sharpness of the cutting, in fine pre- 
servation, and well worthy the attention of the archaaological 
and antiquarian student. On the extreme western pilaster 

* See Grace's Annals of Ireland. A portion of this abbey of St. Thomas, 
now Thomas's Court, was remaining within the memory of man. In the in- 
cident related above, we have quoted the circumstances as they are set forth 
in records acknowledged to be authentic ; but, at the same time, we are in- 
clined to question the chronology of the documents relied on by Irish histo- 
rians, for if the body and head of De Lacy were thrown into the ditch, and 
endeavoured to be concealed by the Irish, it is not likely that they could have 
been identified nine years after ; and the very fact of the head having been 
removed to Dublin, while the body was carried elsewhere, induces us to be- 
lieve that the interment of both took place immediately after the murder- It 
is possible, however, that the body may have been originally interred at the 
cemetery at Durrow. 




BECTIVE CLOISTERS. 1 1 1 

we find a figure, cut in relief, of an abbot, and above it a shield 
enclosing three fleur-de-lis, probably the arms of the prelate 
interred beneath, for 
we know that un- N i^^S»^ 
derneath these ar- 
cades the ecclesias- 
tics of olden time HUSH - BF &^2E^j£~ Jtk?\ 
were wont to place 
their most venerated 
dead. 

The great tower at 
the entrance above 
the porch is still 
very perfect, and by 
its loop-holes and battlements shows that the inmates were, 
occasionally at least, entitled to be considered a part of the 
church militant. It has been said that a portion of this abbey 
was erected prior to the date of the English invasion, and that 
Grecian architects were employed in its construction, but upon 
what authority we have not been able to discover. 

The annals of Bective present us with nearly the same 
amount of history as those preserved of similar establishments 
of the same era along the Boyne and elsewhere; and their de- 
tail, though highly valuable in eking out the history of the 
country, would be uninteresting to the general reader ; charters, 
grants of lands, endowments, and forfeitures ; bulls of Popes, 
and letters of kings; excommunications and interdictions ; pil- 
lagings; disputes with neighbouring powers, rival ecclesiasti- 
cal establishments, exacting chieftains, or rude military com- 
manders; observances of festivals; solemn interments ; the pre- 
servation of relics, and the records of the accession and deaths 
of superiors, forming the great bulk of such materials. 

There is a small hamlet near the bridge to which the name 
of Bective is given ; and the family of Taylor derive the title 
of Earl from this locality. 

From Bective to Navan the Boyne sweeps gracefully through 
a highly cultivated country ; and its banks are adorned, 
throughout the entire length of this portion of its course, by 
the grounds and plantations of noble parks and demesnes, as 
those of Balsoon, Bective, Bellinter, Dowdstown, and Ardsal- 
lagh. The banks are not high or abrupt, but form pleasing 



112 THE RUINS OF CLADY. 

slopes and gentle undulations of surface ; here stretching out 
into broad lawns, and there fringed with aged trees, which, 
with the handsome mansions of the neighbouring proprietors, 
give the whole very much the appearance of the inland scenery 
of England. It is not the peculiar feature of any one of these 
seats that engenders this idea, but it is the general continuity 
of style, and the effect which the demesne on one side lends to 
that on the other, together combining to shut out the sur- 
rounding country, which produces this beauty, and that keeps 
the stream still flowing onward for several miles of its course 
through a succession of picturesque landscapes in this charm- 
ing valley. 

Near the Navan road, upon the northern bank of the river, 
not far from the abbey, we find one of those early military 
raths, so common throughout Meath; and about three-quar- 
ters of a mile below Bective bridge, on the same side, upon a 
small tongue of land which runs out between a tributary 
streamlet and the river, some very interesting and hitherto 
almost unnoticed remains, both Pagan and Christian, claim 
our attention. These consist of the old church and bridge of 
Clady, and some subterranean structures lately discovered in 
the immediate vicinity. The church, which is now a complete 
ruin, was originally a parallelogram, with a projection at the 
south-eastern side — a sort of transept — and a bell- turret upon 
the western gable ; but although we are able to trace the outline 
of this building throughout, the only portion of much interest 
spared by the hand of time is a very beautiful window, in the 
south chapel, the stone frame- work of which is still very perfect. 
It consists of two cinquefoiled arches, in the " early English" 
style, separated by a light shaft. The carvings on the round ca- 
pitals are rich and tasteful. An aged elder-bush overshadowing 
and partly protruding through these lights, serves to heighten 
the effect of the picture, while a patriarchal ash, of gigantic 
dimensions, spreads its rugged arms over the adjoining grave- 
yard. That many such windows as that we have described 
must have existed in this church originally, may be learned 
from the quantity of fragments, exhibiting the same form of 
mouldings and carving, which are scattered around, or partly 
sunk in the ground, as head-stones. A hollow stone, appa- 
rently an ancient lavatory or a piscina, is still remaining in the 
enclosure, on the northern side. Mr. Bolton, in whose demesne 



CLADY. 



113 



the church stands, has lately, with laudable zeal, removed the 
font to his garden, to preserve it from utter demolition, and 
being literally ground away ; for it had been used by the ad- 
joining peasantry for years as a rub or whetstone, as all loi- 
terers in ancient churchyards must be aware has been the fate 
of many a similar sacred vessel. It is perfectly plain, octagon 
in shape, and measures two feet five inches in diameter. It is 
evidently of great antiquity ; and the size of its basin rather 
favours the idea which we already stated when alluding to the 
font at Clonard, that immersion was, in all probability, the form 
of baptism employed by the early Irish Christians. Now that 
Mr. Bolton has enclosed his demesne, and that the same means 
of access for mere knife-grinding purposes have ceased to exist, 
we confess we should like to see this relic restored to its an- 
cient and original site. 



o^l 




3^? 



The accompanying graphic and faithful sketch, will afford 
the reader a tolerable idea of this interesting group of ruins. 

The adjoining stream is crossed by an ancient stone foot- 
bridge, about thirty yards in length, and supported by two 
arches of different shapes. It is about five feet in breadth, 
and does not appear to have ever had a parapet. It is one of 
the very few foot-bridges which we have ever seen or heard of 
in this country; and if it is coeval with the church to which it 
leads, and which in all probability it is, it cannot be denied that 
this is the most ancient stone bridge now existing in Ireland. 

i 



114 SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBERS AT CLADY. 

In an adjoining plantation, and not above a stone^s throw 
from the church, were lately discovered two subterranean 
chambers. Each of these crypts is formed entirely of un- 
hewn stones, arranged in the shape of a bee-hive dome, but 
without mortar or cement, the arch being formed by each tier 
of stones projecting somewhat within or beyond that beneath, 
and the summit completed by a large flag, the whole structure 
being preserved by the pressure and weight of the surround- 
ing earth, for these chambers are quite below the surface ; and 
it was owing to the accidental circumstance of a cow having 
pressed in one of the top stones, that a knowledge of their ex- 
istence was obtained. The first chamber is nine feet broad, and 
the walls are not indented by either niches or minor crypts. 
From the floor to the summit measures upwards of nine feet ; 
but owing to the drifting of some fine sand into the interior of 
these chambers and passages, their apparent altitude is at pre- 
sent much less. A small quadrangular passage, nine feet in 
length, two and a half high, and three broad, and roofed with 
large flag-stones laid upon the flat, runs in a northerly direc- 
tion to another chamber, exactly similar in every respect, but 
without any other passage leading from it. From the first 
chamber, a second gallery branches off in a westerly direction, 
to a distance of about fifteen feet, where its dimensions increase 
considerably; but from the roof having fallen in, it is not pos- 
sible at present to investigate it much further. We under- 
stand that these chambers were found in this condition when 
first opened, a few years ago, and did not contain either wea- 
pons, ornaments, or any animal remains, which could in any 
way assist us in pronouncing upon their probable use. Still 
the antiquary will speculate upon the purposes for which such 
structures were erected, their ages, and the people by whom 
they were built. They differ from the sepulchral caves in that 
the dome springs directly from the floor, and not from a course 
of upright pillars, such as we find at New Grange, Dowth, and 
elsewhere; and in not possessing niches, or minor chambers, 
which some of the smallest of these latter do, as that in Net- 
terville Park, to which we shall presently allude. The stones 
are also much smaller, and totally devoid of carvings ; and the 
existence of passages from one to the other, as well as these 
chambers being sunk in the earth, and not surrounded by a 
distinct mound of clay or stones, serve to distinguish them from 



ANCIENT IRISH CRYPTS. 115 

those of the sepulchral class. There can be little doubt that they 
are to be referred to Pagan times, before the use of the arch, 
or the advantages of mortar, were known, and were probably 
employed by some of the very early people of this island as 
places of security, temporary habitations, and granaries, for 
which latter purpose their dryness well fitted them. The two 
chambers and the passages just described are, in all probabi- 
lity, but portions of a large collection of other souterrains ad- 
joining; and some elevations of the ground in the neighbouring 
plantation, which have a remarkably hollow sound, lend pro- 
bability to this conjecture. It is not unlikely to have been a 
troglodyte village, used as a granary as well as a hiding-place, 
by some of our Firbolg or Tuatha De Danaan aborigines. The 
place is well worthy of further investigation in these days of 
scientific antiquarian research ; and we are sure the proprietor 
would willingly aid such an undertaking. 

Several subterranean chambers and passages, some of them 
similarly constructed, exist in Connaught and Munster; they 
are generally formed in the raised embankment, or within the 
precincts of an ancient fort or rath, and are by the peasants 
invariably attributed to the Danes, although we have no au- 
thority whatever for such a supposition. Within some of these 
have been found quantities of animal remains, those of goats 
and oxen in particular, besides quantities of charcoal, and very 
often small tobacco-pipes. Sir Thomas Molyneux gave a very 
accurate description of these caves and galleries, upwards of 
120 years ago, in his " Discources concerning the Danish 
Mounds, Forts, and Towers in Ireland."* Most probably a 
rath existed here in former times, but the planting and the 
very great alteration of the surface at present prevents its 
being discerned. A somewhat similar chamber may be seen in 
the vicinity of Navan, somewhat lower down upon the Boyne. 
It is figured in Mr. Wakeman's Archasologia Hibernica,*j* and 

* Dublin : printed by and for George Grierson, at the Two Bibles, in Essex- 
street, 1725; and reprinted in Boate and Molyneux's Natural History of Ire- 
land. See also the Author's Memoirs of Sir Thomas Molyneux, in the Dublin 
University Magazine for 1841, vol. xviii. 

f Archaeologia Hibernica : A Hand- Book of Irish Antiquities, Pagan and 
Christian, especially of such as are easy of access from the Irish Metro- 
polis. By William F. Wakeman. With numerous Illustrations. Dublin : 
M c Glashan. 1848. 

12 



116 THE HOUSE OF CLETTY. 

Mr. T. Crofton Croker has given an interesting account of se- 
veral in the county of Cork.* 

Two of the most celebrated Irishmen of early times died on 
the Boyne's bank : Finn Mac Cumhaill, the renowned warrior, 
popularly known as Fin -ma- Cool, who was killed with a dart 
or gaff by a fisherman named Athlach, at Ath-Brea or Rath- 
Breagha,f and also his father-in-law, King Cormac Mac Art, 
the grandson of Con of the Hundred Battles, who died from a 
fish-bone having stuck in his throat. The circumstances at- 
tending the death of the latter are here worth recording. He 
was one of the most renowned, just, and wise of the monarchs 
of Tara, and is said to have been the third person who ac- 
cepted Christianity in Erin before the time of Patrick. One of 
his eyes having been destroyed by the warrior Engus Gaibh- 
uaibhnech, he afterwards generally resided at Acaill (now 
Skreen), at Kells, or at the House of Cletty (Cletigh, Cleiteach, 
or Cletech), as "it was not lawful that a king with a personal 
blemish should reside at Tara."J Two years after the loss of 
his eye, he was suffocated, from the bone of a salmon having 
stuck in his throat, at this House of Cletty, the site of which 
has not yet been determined by topographers. The name, the 
situation, and the remains at Clady, afford us, however, some 
clue to it. In several Irish manuscripts, both in prose and 
verse, this house is alluded to as being over or above the 
Boyne (" Cletig supra Boin"), and in the vicinity of Tara, 
to both of which circumstances this place accurately answers ; 
but furthermore we learn something of its precise locality 
from the account given of the death of King Muircheartach 
Mac Earca, nearly two centuries and a half after the time of 
Cormac. He was burned to death in the House of Cletty, by 
his mistress Sheen, after the battle of Kirb, — a spot believed 
to be Assey, upon the opposite side of the Boyne. St. Cairneach, 
of Tuilen (now Dulane, near Kells), cursed the place, and it 
was soon after deserted. His prophecy is recorded in the An- 
nals of Tighernach. King Cormac's death took place, accord- 
ing to the Four Masters, A. D. 266, " at Cleiteach, the bone 

* See the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. iii. p. 350. 

f See the Annals of the Four Masters, A. D. 284 ; and the Annals of Innis- 
fallen, quoted by 0' Donovan, in a note to the above. 

% See History of the Cemeteries in the Leabhar na h- Uidhre, a translation 
of which is given in Petrie's Round Towers. 



ASSET CHURCH AND CASTLE. 117 

of a salmon sticking in his throat, on account of the Sibhradh 
[Genii], which Malgeen, the Druid, had incited at him, after 
Cormac had turned against the Druids, on account of his ado- 
ration of God in preference to them." 

The situation of Cletty is described in the historical tale 
entitled Oighidh Aluircheartaigh Mboir mhic Earca, thus : 
•* Good indeed was the situation of that house oyer the mar- 
gin of the salmon-full, eTer-beautifulBoyne, and over the verge 
of the green- topped Brugh."' This latter place, is, however, 
against our theory, but so is it against the situation of Cletty 
assigned by others to the vicinity of Stackallan Bridge.* and 
there may "have been, and no doubt were, more Brughs or forts 
than one. This inquiry is well worthy of further investigation. 

Below Clady, some high, precipitous banks arise, upon the 
northern side of the river, near Bective House ; and upon 
the opposite hill, two sites, of considerable interest, claim our 
attention, — Balsoon and Asigh or Assey. The former was once 
the residence of Archbishop Ussher, and its ruined church 
and ancient graveyard are still worthy of a visit. The latter, 
called in Irish Ath-Sighe, consists of the ruins of a castle, origi- 
nally constructed upon the type of those at Scurlogstown and 
Trubly, a square keep, with circular flanking towers at the 
eastern and western angles.*?" Like other castles of the Pale, 
its summit commands a most extended view, including" a long 
reach of the river both above and below this point. On the 
slope leading down to the river we meet with a small group 
of ecclesiastical ruins, portions of the walls of one of the early 
missionary churches: the middle wall, with a square doorway. 
occupying the place of a choir arch ; and some broken frag- 
ments of stone mouldings, with a surrounding graveyard. 
Several noble ash trees, which seem the peculiar growth of the 
valley of the Boyne, shelter this ruined chapel ; and the luxu- 
riant crop of white lichens, which have crept over the walls and 
adjacent tombstones, give this place an air of great antiquity. 

As the Boyne passes through the noble demense of Bellinter, 
it is again broken into islands, a group of which, nearly oppo- 

* See O'Donovan's Xote on Cleiteach in the Annals: and also the Banquet of 
Dun na nGedh. and the Battle of Mcigh Rath, pp. 19, 20. 

f The plan of these Boyne fortresses consisting of square keeps, with circu- 
lar turrets at the corners, is well shown in the ruins adjoining the Church of 
Lusk, where an ancient Round Tower is used as one of the flanking towers. 



118 RIVERSTOWN CASTLE. 

site Mr. Preston's house, are planted with considerable taste. 
This residence, which was once the seat of the lords of Tara, 
was designed by Mr. Cassells, and is one of the finest specimens 
of domestic architecture in this part of Meath. It consists of 
a large square central building, with a proj ecting wing on each 
side, connected to it by a colonnade. The southern road to 
Navan presents the traveller with a fine view of this mansion 
and the intervening park. 

Turning southward from Bellinter Bridge, as we begin to 
ascend the hill towards Tara, the castle of Riverstown, about 
a mile and a half from the Boyne's brink, will be found well 
worthy of inspection. This was one of the best built castles 
upon the Boyne ; and the remains which still exist, in the per- 
fection of their masonry, and the sharpness and beauty of their 
lines, still bear witness to the fact. The ruins of this beautiful 
building show it to have been of the same type as most other 
castles of the Pale which we have examined, consisting of two 
portions, an ancient and a modern. The former is a massive 
square tower, entirely built of cut or hammered stone, with 
three square turrets at the corners, which batter very much 
toward the foundation, and at top rise several feet above the 
principal part of the building. The eastern turret was origi- 
nally a pigeon-house, and that on the west side contained a 
spiral staircase which led to a parapet at top. These turrets 
were lighted by small square windows and loop-holes, and were, 
as well as the central tower, divided into four floors and an 
attic. In the wall of each of these turrets we find one of these 
chimney-like, concealed flues, or upright passages, common 
in some of the ancient castles, and popularly known among the 
people as " murder-holes." This part of the castle was inha- 
bited within the last eighty years, and portions of the plaster 
still remain upon the interior of the walls. The more modern 
portion abutted against the western wall of the tower, and 
shows, by the two gable-grooves, which are still visible in the 
latter, that it was erected or re-edified at different periods; 
and this conjecture is further supported by the fact of the 
existence of a large stone-arched keep, still remaining on the 
north-western side. Portions of the wall of the bawn can still 
be traced in the surrounding farm-yard. 

By whom, or at what precise time, the original castle of 
Riverstown was built, we have no means of ascertaining, but 



RECOLLECTIONS OF TARA. 119 

we know that in the sixteenth century it was in the possession 
of the Dillons. In the churchyard of Tara may be seen the 
monument of Robert Dillon of Riverstown, who died in 1595. 
In our passage down the river we have heretofore confined 
our observations and researches to the scenery in its immediate 
vicinity, and the objects which presented themselves within 
view of its banks ; for were we to extend the field of our in- 
quiry beyond this limit, we would have to enlarge this work 
much beyond the dimensions of a guide-book to the Boyne. 
In fact, it would become, had we sufficient knowledge of the 
subject, an antiquarian history of Ireland ; and yet, as we 
stated at the beginning of this work, such might be written 
from the ruins still remaining in these localities. Thus, were we 
inclined to draw upon the sources of early Irish history, from 
documents of undoubted authenticity, referring to Pagan and 
early Christian times, and to point with certainty to the evi- 
dences which existing remains afford of the truth of the topo- 
graphy, at least, set forth in those early records, the bardic 
histories, which were written in the few first centuries of the 
Christian era, we might lead our readers from Bellinter Bridge 
up a gradual ascent which rises on the right bank of the river, 
about two miles beyond this spot, and, standing on a command- 
ing eminence, point to the grassy mounds of Tara in proof 
of our assertion. A full description of this celebrated locality 
would, however, occupy several chapters. Aroused by the 
enthusiasm which the very name inspires, we might describe 
at length the royal residences which once crowned this sacred 
spot, and still point out the foundations of these very struc- 
tures. We might recount the monarchs who reigned here, 
Belgic, Scotic, and Milesian, from the days of Slaigne and Dagda, 
through the royal line of Temur, to the subversion of Pagan- 
ism, and the introduction of Christianity into Ireland. We 
might describe the great Feis Teamhrach, or assembly of the 
chieftains ; and while we hold not with superstitious reverence 
by all the bardic tales and poetic legends handed down to us for 
some fifteen centuries, except so far as they accord with com- 
mon sense, or are borne out by collateral evidence, we could 
point with pride to the just and wise laws which emanated 
from the house of Ollamh Fodhla ; we could tell of Con, the 
warrior of the hundred battles ; of the Druid famed for sorcery ; 
the Brehon wise in judgments; the Bard who chronicled in 



120 RECOLLECTIONS OF TARA. 

wild and imaginative song the half fabulous events of a semi- 
barbarous age ; the Kings renowned in story, — theCormacs and 
Nialls, and Dathis: but now 

" No more to chiefs and ladies bright 
The harp of Tara swells ; 
The chord alone that breaks at night 
Its tale of ruin tells." 

We might, by merely paraphrasing the translations of au- 
thentic Irish history, occupy pages in recounting the deeds of 
Patrick, when he converted the Irish monarch and the whole 
court at Tara. We might, even now, preach with the ser- 
mons, and enliven modern Christianity with the hymns of our 
patron saint. We could tell of the cursing of Temur by St. 
Ruadhan, and its subsequent desertion. Or again, we might 
trace the various raths, and descant upon the wells and pillar- 
stones which consecrate this spot. The Lia Fail, or stone of 
destiny, supposed to have been removed to Scone, and from 
Scone to Westminster, but which is still, it appears, un- 
doubtedly at Tara, would in itself form a text for an entire 
chapter upon the civil history of this kingdom; while the name 
of St. Adamnan is a fitting proem for an hour's dissertation on 
our early ecclesiastical writings, and the colonies which sprung 
from this Isle of Saints, even to the far-famed Iona. Or, to 
come down to later years, the graves of the croppies, the lyrics 
of Tom Moore, and the monster meetings, would lead us far 
beyond the limits of this little work. Were we to allow our- 
selves the latitude we should desire, or, perhaps, the subject 
deserves, we would carry our readers to the opposite hill of 
Skreen, the ancient Acaill, and while we pointed out, from that 
elevated situation, the extensive prospect of the broad lands 
and fair mansions, the castles, churches, and monasteries, so 
full of interest in themselves, and such embellishments to the 
extended landscape within view, with the " Pleasant Boyne" 
gliding smoothly by them, we could also tell of the wonders 
of the locality whereon we stood, and call to our readers' re- 
collection the legends about the shrine of Columba, and the 
history of the battles fought here by the Ostmen of old, and also 
refer to its occupation, in more modern times, by the Feypos, 
and Cusacks, and Verdons. 

For all that is known, or can, in all probability, be known, 



HOW TO SEE TAR A. 121 

of the antiquarian lore, historic records, and topographical 
details, connected with Tara, we must refer our readers to Dr. 
Petrie's essay upon the history and antiquities of that ancient 
seat of learning, wealth, and power, which has been published 
in the eighteenth volume of the Transactions of the Royal 
Irish Academy. This essay, while it stamped its author as a 
most profound scholar, acute observer, and a most honest and 
laborious searcher after truth, with a mind unbiassed by theory, 
uninfluenced by the dogma of the schools, or the authority of 
names, has been of immense value to Irish history, not only 
on account of the sources of learning which it discloses, but 
for the lesson it teaches to all future gleaners in this field of 
patient investigation and judicious critical research. If Dr. Pe- 
trie had never written another line, or established another 
truth, this memoir upon Tara would have established his fame, 
and formed the model from which the history of Ireland may 
hereafter be framed or worked out. 

Strangers, and foreigners speaking the English language, 
and Irishmen also, visit the site of this regal city ; and some 
carry with them the quarto volume of the Academy's Trans- 
actions, as they would one of " Murray's Hand-books," and ex- 
pect that it will point out at once, and with but little trouble, 
all the ancient halls and courts, so poetically described in some 
of the fanciful histories of Ireland. On the one, however, they 
find nothing but a collection of earthen mounds and grassy 
undulations, a few time-worn stones, and an old churchyard, 
crowning the top of rather an unpicturesque hill ; and in the 
text of the other a mass of what is, to them, dry, unintelligi- 
ble, documentary evidence, partly written in a language the 
very characters of which they are unacquainted with, and in- 
terspersed with quaint old poems, containing names of men 
and things quite unpronounceable by their vocal organs. Such 
casual visiters spend an hour at Tara, and some read the com- 
mentary upon it, and acknowledge that they are none the wiser ; 
and this we can fully conceive. To understand the one, and 
effectually to observe the other, requires a certain amount of 
schooling in the investigation of the sources of history, an 
eye practised to the forms of ancient remains, and an ear at- 
tuned to the language of archaeology ; but, even with all or 
any of these acquirements, there is a feeling, an innate feeling, 
necessary, which no art can teach, no schooling generate ; for 



1 22 THE BANQUETING HALL ; 

there are hundreds whose valour or patriotism would not be 
aroused on the field of Marathon, nor their piety awakened 
amidst the ruins of Iona. 

The following brief notice of Tara, intended chiefly as an 
itinerary, may, however, serve to direct the tourist's attention 
to the objects best worthy of attention in this celebrated loca- 
lity. 

Retracing our steps for a short way from Rivers town, we meet 
another ruined fortress at the cross-roads of Castletown, and 
now we commence the ascent of Tara by the ancient road lead- 
ing to the north, the Slighe Fan na g- Carbad, or Slope of the 
Chariots, which has been mentioned in the old topographical 
descriptions of this renowned locality. The first object which 
demands attention is the Teach Miodhchuarta, or great Banquet- 
ing Hall, the chief monument of all, which runs north and south, 
a deep excavation, with parallel sides, rising up a gentle ascent 
of the hill, 360 feet long, and 40 wide, the sides being formed 
by a raised mur, or earth embankment, in which a number of 
excavations or gaps may be observed, corresponding to the 
doors which led into the great hall, " the house of the thousand 
soldiers," the locality where the Feis Teamhrach, or solemn 
assembly of Tara, was held. Standing at the top or southern 
extremity of this remain, and bearing in mind the various 
prose and bardic histories of the Irish annalists, one cannot 
help reverting to ancient heroic times, and again, in imagina- 
tion, peopling it with its early occupants. Here sat in days of 
yore kings with golden crowns upon their heads; warriors 
with brazen swords in their hands ; bards and minstrels with 
their harps ; grey-bearded ollamhs; druids with their oak- 
leaf crowns ; learned historians ; wise brehons and subtle 
lawyers; the physicians; the smiths, artificers, charioteers, 
huntsmen, architects; the chess-players and cup-bearers, toge- 
ther with crowds of servants and retainers, whose places are all 
specified in the ancient annals relating to Tara.* Sneer not at 
the Irishman's veneration for this spot ; the history of its 
"long-faded glories" is still preserved; the memories of Tara 
have remained a silver thread in the garment of sackcloth he 
has worn for centuries. 

* We wish our space permitted of our introducing here some of the poems 
of the Book of Rights, describing the feasts at Teamhair, lately published by 
the Irish Celtic Society. It should be consulted by every visitor to Tara. 



THE RATHS AND CIRCLED OF TARA. 123 

Most probably a wooden building covered in at top extended 
along the earthen elevations still remaining at the sides of this 
great banqueting-hall. The prospect from this site now is 
one of the most extensive and beautiful in Aleath, and fully as 
awakening as that wherewith Demosthenes, standing on the 
Areopagus, aroused the valour of the ancient Athenians. 

In the adjoining field is Bath Cadchon, and beyond it are the 
remains of two circular duns, but greatly obliterated by plan- 
tations: one of these is Bath- Grainne. and the other, together 
with the small well of Tober Finn, are now scarcely percep- 
tible ; none of these, however, are of sufficient importance to 
require particular notice in a popular description like the pre- 
sent. 

Ascending the slope towards the south we gain the top of 
the hill, crowned by xh.eBath-na-Seano.dh, the Bath of the Sy- 
nods, or the King's Chair, where it is said the tent of Adam- 
nan was pitched, presenting a double wall of circumvallation, 
the eastern side of which has been cut off by the adjoining 
churchyard. Upon this rath in particular, it is more than 
probable, some of the synods at Tara. in Christian times, were 
held. It is the highest spot upon the hill, being 512 feet above 
the level of the sea. The two beautiful gold torques, pre- 
served in the collection of the Boyal Irish Academy, were 
found by a boy in the side of this hill some years ago. Imme- 
diately adjoining this elevation stands the modern church, the 
decorated western window of which was removed from the 
ruins of an ancient ecclesiastical building which existed here 
within the present century.* TVithin the enclosure of the 
surrounding churchyard we find some objects of antiquarian 
interest, especially a flat pillar-stone about six feet high, sup- 
posed to be the shaft of the cross of St. Adamnan, on the east- 
ern face of which is carved, in relief, a rude human figure, 
about eighteen inches hiorh.t In its vicinitv we find a short 



* There is a view of this church given in Grose's Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 88. 

f This small naked figure, with something like horns upon the head, is from 
its position evidently one of those curious pieces of ancient sculpture, popularly 
known in some places as Sheelah Ny Giogs, frequently found inserted into 
the walls of some early Christian buildings, and of which there are one or two 
specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. There is one to fa . 
built into the side wall of the ruined Church at Dowth facing the Boyne. See 
the description of that building. 



124 



THE LIA FAIL. 



pillar-stone, not unlike some of those at New Grange. This is 
supposed to be one of the two druidical stones called Bloc and 
Bluicni, which used to open out to admit the chariot of the 
king at his coronation. 

Proceeding still southward we pass into the great oval en- 
closure of the Bath na Biogh, the King's Kath or the Cathair of 
Crofinn, the most extensive of all the earthen circles at Tara, 
measuring upwards of 280 yards in length in its longest di- 
mensions. It is obliterated in several places, but a sufficiency 
still remains to point out its site. Immediately within its nor- 
thern boundary we find the mound of the hostages, Dumha- 
na-Ngiall, a small circular moat, so named in memory of the 
hostages which King Cormac took from the different provinces, 
and on which formerly lay the obelistic monolith, believed to 
be the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny. Nearly in the centre 
we meet the triple enclosure of the Forradh; and toward the 
south-east and immediately adjoining the latter, the Teach Cor- 
maic, the House of Cormac. 

Between the house of Cormac and the rath of the Forradh 
existed, it is supposed, the ruins of Tea-mur, from which Te- 
mur, or Tara, takes its name, in memory of a Milesian queen 
called Tea. In the centre of the internal mound of the For- 
radh stands an upright stele or cir- 
cular pillar-stone, which was for- 
merly on the top of the Mound of 
the Hostages, but was removed to 
this spot in the year 1798, and 
erected as a headstone to the grave 
of thirty-seven of the insurgents, 
who were killed in a skirmish with 
the military in this neighbourhood. 
Dr. Petrie supposes this stone to be 
the celebrated Lia Fail, on which 
the early Irish kings were crowned, 
and which has been generally be- 
lieved to have been carried to Scot- 
land for the coronation of Fergus 
Mac Eark, and afterwards removed 
by Edward I. from Scone to Westminster Abbey. The Lia 
Fail was the stone so famed in ancient history, which was said 
to have roared beneath the Irish kings at the time of their in- 




THE VIEW FROM TAR A HILL. 125 

auguration. For the various authorities bearing upon this 
point, we must refer our readers to the " History and Antiqui- 
ties of Tara Hill," already so frequently referred to. We fully 
acknowledge the force of the reasoning of Dr. Petrie on this 
subject, and admit the validity of his arguments with respect 
to the history of the Stone of Destiny, and we must believe 
that it is not that now in Westminster Abbey; but at the 
same time we are not by any means convinced that this round 
pillar stone, now placed over the croppies' grave, is the stone. 
Perhaps the flat sculptured stone, latterly called the Cross of St. 
Adamnan, may have been it.* 

To the east of theForradh, immediately adjoining the road, 
is the Well of Neamhnach \Newnagli\, a beautiful spring, for- 
merly shaded by a magnificent ash tree, the roots of which still 
stretch over it. The only two other object of general interest 
to the tourist here are, the Rath of Laoghaire, upon the slope 
of the hill towards the south, in which it is said King Laogh- 
aire was buried in a standing position ; and about a quarter of 
a mile distant, in the same direction, among some trees crown- 
ing an adjoining elevation, the great fort called the Eath of 
Queen Meve, which is very well worth inspection. 

From the centre of the Forradh on the one side, and the 
King's Chair upon the other, we gain most extensive views of 
the great plains of Meath, extending along the Boyne from the 
towers of Trim to the wooded heights of Slane ; stretching over 
the course of the Blackwater to the regal hill of Tailtean, to 
Kells and to the mountains of Cavan ; and, towards the south- 
east, taking in the tower of Skreen and the ancient castle ad- 
joining. 

There were several ancient roads leading through and from 
the royal residence at Tara, but, without entering into the ge- 
neral history and topography of the place, their description 
would be uninteresting. We regret to say that one of the 
raths of Tara was removed the year before last, by an inhabi- 
tant of Navan, for manure ; and we understand a similar act of 
desecration is meditated towards another during the present 
harvest. Surely the proprietor of the soil, if acquainted with 



* This opinion was likewise held by O'Donovan. See his valuable and 
voluminous letters on Tara, in the Ordnance Library, which we have lately 
perused. 



126 st. Patrick's hymn. 

these circumstances, would interfere to prevent further obli- 
teration of these most interesting historic remains. 

While our limits forbid our entering at all upon the records 
of Tara, — for the account which Ave could here afford to give 
would be so meagre, that we feel it would rather obscure than 
elucidate its true history, — we cannot forbear, in concluding 
this brief itinerary, quoting, in the subj oined note, the follow- 
ing hymn of St. Patrick, composed, it is believed, at the time 
he visited Tara, immediately after his arrival in Ireland, and 
which is supposed to have been sung by the Saint and his at- 
tendants as he approached this seat of monarchy surrounded 
by his Pagan enemies. It is not of so much consequence here, 
whether it really was composed by Patrick, or not until some 
two or three centuries after his death ; its authenticity as a very 
ancient document has been fully established, and it exhibits in 
a remarkable manner the purity of faith of the early Irish 
Christian Church. It has been published by Dr. Petrie from 
the celebrated Liber Hymnormn, preserved in the Library of 
Trinity College, Dublin, a manuscript which, in the opinion of 
Archbishop Ussher, as expressed in a letter to Vossius, was in 
his time a thousand years old. It is written in the very ancient 
Irish dialect in which the Brehon laws are preserved, and 
seems to be oldest Christian Irish document extant.* 



* The translation is as follows : 

" At Temur to day I invoke the mighty power of the Trinity. I believe in 
the Trinity under the Unity of the God of the Elements. 

" At Temur to-day I place the virtue of the Birth of Christ with his Bap- 
tism, the virtue of his Crucifixion with his Burial, the virtue of his Resurrec- 
tion with his Ascension, the virtue of the coming to the eternal Judgment. 

" At Temur to-day I place the virtue of the love of Seraphin ; the vir- 
tue which exists in the obedience of angels, in the hope of the Resurrection to 
eternal reward, in the prayers of the noble fathers, in the predictions of the 
prophets, in the preaching of the apostles, in the faith of the confessors, in the 
purity of the holy virgins, in the deeds of just men. 

" At Temur to-day I place the strength of heaven, the light of the sun, 
the whiteness of snow, the force of fire, the rapidity of lightning, the swiftness 
of the wind, the depth of the sea, the stability of the earth, the hardness of 
rocks between me and the powers of paganism and demons. 

" At Temur to-day may the strength of God pilot me, may the power of 
God preserve me, may the wisdom of God instruct me, may the eye of God 
view me, may the ear of God hear me, may the word of God render me elo- 
quent, may the hand of God protect me, may the way of God direct me, may 
the shield of God defend me, may the host of God guard me against the snares 



THE DUNSHAUGHLIN ANTIQUITIES. 127 

It is with some reluctance that we so soon return to the 
Boyne ; for at Loch-Gabhair, or Lough- Gower, near Dun- 
shaughlin, a few miles from hence, we could have introduced 
our readers to some subjects connected with the domestic life 
and usages of the Irish people, prior to the tenth century, 
from a vast collection of weapons, domestic implements, and 
culinary utensils, and even objects employed in the toilet, as 
well as an enormous heap of animal remains, which were dis- 
covered in that locality not very long ago ; and have entered, 
at some length, and from most valuable authentic materials 
within our reach, into details concerning the races of cattle, 
and animals of the chase, as well as those used for domestic 
purposes, at that period in Ireland. But these we also fear to 
touch on ; they are rather without the pale of this guide book ; 
we cannot at present do more than direct attention to this in- 
teresting locality, and to the subjects which these remains il- 
lustrate. Perhaps upon some future occasion we may conduct 
the pilgrims of the Boyne to Skreen and Dunshaughlin.* 

Crossing the left bank of the Boyne at Bellinter bridge we 
enter the noble demesne of Ardsallagh,f now belonging to the 

of demons, the temptations of vices, the inclinations of the mind, against even- 
man who meditates evil to me, far or near, alone or in company. 

" I place all these powers between me and every evil unmerciful power di- 
rected against my soul and my body, as a protection against the incanta- 
tions of false prophets, against the black laws of Gentilism, against the false 
laws of heresy, against the treachery of idolatry, against the spells of women, 
smiths, and Druids, against every knowledge which blinds the soul of man. 
May Christ to-day protect me against poison, against burning, against drown- 
ing, against wounding, Tintil I deserve much reward. 

" Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ after me, Christ in me, 
Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ 
at this side, Christ at that side, Christ at my back. 

" Christ be in the heart of each person whom I speak to, Christ in the 
mouth of each person who speaks to me, Christ in each eye which sees me, 
Christ in each ear which hears me. 

" At Temur to-day I invoke the mighty power of the Trinity. I believe in 
the Trinity under the Unity of the God of the elements. 

" Salvation is the Lord's, salvation is the Lord's, salvation is Christ's. May 
thy salvation, O Lord, be always with us." 

* See Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. i. p. 424, and Annals of 
the Four Masters, A. D. 675-848. 

f Ardsallagh would seem to be an anglicised form of Ard-salach, i. e., the 
dirty height ; but it is more probable that its original form was Ard-saileach, 
i. e., altitudo saliceti, or the height of the sallows or willows, which may 
possibly have nourished on the high banks of the Boyne here of old. 



128 ARDSALLAGH AND ST. BRIDGET'S WELL. 

Duke of Bedford, who has recently erected here a handsome 
Elizabethan mansion, in which report whispers he will an- 
nually spend some time. In no part of its course does the 
river present the same extreme calmness and repose as here. 
Widening into deep, still pools, shaded by aged timber, and 
fringed with wild plants of gigantic growth, huge colts-foot; 
with the modest blue forget-me-not and the little yellow poten- 
tilla peeping through their dark umbrageous foliage; long, 
topling bulrushes, fragrant meadow-sweet, and broad water- 
lilies, stretch in wild luxuriance along the placid banks. Long 
avenues of lime trees, and groves of tall grey- stemmed beeches 
with arcades of aged yew, give an air of antiquity as well as 
grandeur to this handsome park. One almost always expects 
to meet some remnant of ecclesiastical buildings where aged 
yew trees abound, and accordingly we read that St. Finian 
founded the monastery of Escair-branain near this, but at pre- 
sent even the site of that ancient edifice is unknown. 

We are not, however, altogether disappointed in our search, 
for the holy well of St. Bridget still exists here, in the imme- 
diate vicinity of the house, and but a few paces from the river. 
Although a modern cut stone pointed arch has by some taste- 
less architect been thrown over it, still the thorns and elders 
that overhang its pure waters, the mullen, the ground ivy, and 
wild geraniums that droop and festoon the adjoining bank, and 
the old carved head of St. Bridget, with its plaited hair and 
prim formal features, — the very impersonation of a mother 
abbess, — all combine to render this once celebrated spot a 
pleasing picture. We wish we could say as much for the 
house, which looks as if it was in a sort of half mourning, being 
built of very dark — almost black — limestone, with all the 
quoins, chimneys, and ornamental portions nearly white. Time, 
however, may greatly assist to remedy this, and soften the 
glaring effect which it now presents, but we greatly fear it 
will never add to its height, equalize its proportions, nor mend 
the deficiency in many of its details. Still, with all this, it is 
a very fine pile of building, and every well-wisher of the coun- 
try should rejoice to see such mansions rising in the land. The 
interior is as yet unfurnished. A series of green terraces,— r-in 
the olden style, when dipt yew trees, quaint statues, and urns, 
were their general accompaniments, — lead from the principal 
entrance down a gentle slope towards the river side. 



CANNISTOWN CHURCH. 



129 



The Boyne now turns nearly northwards to Navan. Upon 
its left bank, about half a mile from the river, and not far from 
the road leading from Bellinter to Navan, the old church of 
Cannonstown or Cannistown claims a passing notice, from its 
picturesqueness, and its affording several beautiful specimens of 
early Irish ecclesiastical archi- 
tecture. The circular choir- 
arch, springing from highly- 
decorated imposts, the bell tur- 
ret in the western gable, the 
nave and east window, with 
the piscina, afford the tourist 
and the antiquarian student 
a good opportunity for stu- 
dying one of our churches of 
the thirteenth century ; and, 
in the surrounding grave- 
yard, rude portions of a cross 
and a font, now used as head- 
stones, give additional inter- 
est to the investigation of the 
tourist ; while some noble ash 
trees, the usual guardians of 

our graveyards and ruined churches, greatly assist to heighten 
the picture of Cannistown. 

At Kilcarn, immediately adjoining, the Dublin road is car- 
ried over the Boyne by a well-built bridge, and continues upon 
the western bank, between which and the river intervenes a 
narrow stripe of greensward, while the opposite, or eastern 
bank, rises abruptly from the water's edge, and forms a pleas- 
ing wooded rampart from this point to Navan. 

Let us cross the river again, and make a little detour of 
about half a mile from this spot to view the old church of Kil- 
carn, which derives its name from an adjoining cairn. It is 
now a complete ruin, claiming attention only from the ancient 
baptismal font, which was recently exhumed here, but which 
has been very lately removed into the neighbouring Koman 
Catholic chapel of Johnstown.* Mr. Wakeman, in his Hand- 




* The preservation of this beautiful font is due to an intelligent blacksmith, 
named Walsh, who resides in the neighbourhood, and whose family burial- 



130 



KILCARN FONT. 



book of Irish Antiquities, lias given the following description 
and illustrations of this most interesting relic: 

" Placed upon its 
shaft, as represented in 
the cut, it measures in 
height about three feet 
six inches ; the basin is 
two feet ten inches in 
diameter, and thirteen 
inches deep. The heads 
of the niches, twelve in 
number, with which its 
sides are carved, are en- 
riched with foliage of 
a graceful but uniform 
character, and the mini- 
ature buttresses which 
separate the niches were 
decorated with crockets, 
the bases resting upon 
heads, grotesque ani- 
mals, or human figures, 
carved as brackets. The 
figures within the niches 
are executed with a wonderful degree of care, the drapery- 
being represented with each minute crease or fold well expres- 
sed. They were evidently intended to represent Christ, the 
Virgin Mary, and the twelve Apostles. All the figures are 
seated. Our Saviour, crowned as a king, and holding in his 
hand the globe and cross, is in the act of blessing the Virgin, 




place is in this churchyard. About twenty years ago this font stood in the old 
ruined church, and it was the usual practice for the " boys" who came to a 
funeral to try who could throw a stone into it with greatest ease and adroit- 
ness. Old Walsh, who is " a bit of an antiquary," perceiving the too probable 
fate of this beautifully sculptured stone, dug a great hole and buried it within 
the precincts of the church, where it remained until he exhumed it, the year 
before last, for Mr. Wakeman to make a drawing of it. It is now, as mentioned 
in the text, in the chapel of Johnstown, where it has been set up as a holy water 
vessel immediately inside the door, but placed so near the wall that a conside- 
rable portion of its sculpture is obscured. 



SCULPTURES ON KILCARN FONT. 



131 



who also is crowned, the ' Queen of Heaven.' The figures of 
most of the Apostles can easily be identified: St. Peter, by his 
key; St. Andrew, by his cross of peculiar shape; and so on. 




They are represented barefooted, and each holds a book in one 
hand. The font did not, when drawn, rest upon its ancient 
shaft, nor had it done so in the memory of the old people of 




the neighbouring village ; but the shaft still remained within 
the church, and the whole has since been restored." 

Immediately approaching Navan, the river makes a bold 
sweep round the foot of the hill, from which rise up the ruins of 
Athlumney Castle, the dilapidated towers and tall gables of 
which shoot above the trees that surround the. commanding 
eminence on which it is placed, while glimpses of its broad, 
stone-sashed, and picturesque windows, of the style of the end 
of the sixteenth century, are caught through the openings in 
the plantation which surrounds the height on which it stands. 
This beautiful pile consists of a large square keep, with stone 

k2 



132 ATHLUMNEY CASTLE; 

arched floors and passages rising into a tower,* from which a 
noble view can be obtained of a clear day : and a more modern 
castellated mansion, with square stone-mullioned windows, tall 
chimneys, and several gables in the side walls. In the immediate 
vicinity is the ruin of a small church of about the fourteenth 



century, with a triple belfry in the western gable. In front of 
this ancient feudal hall, and immediately crowning the high 
eastern bank of the river, on the grounds of Dr. Hudson, the 
present owner of Athlumney, an exceedingly perfect and 
most gracefully shaped sepulchral mound is placed. If it were 
opened under the direction of persons competent to the task, the 
antiquary and ethnologist might expect the discovery of most 
interesting remains within it. 

Of the history of the castle of Athlumney and its adjoin- 
ing church, there is little known with certainty ; but, stand- 
ing on the left bank of the Boyne, opposite this point, we 
cannot help recalling the story of the heroism of its last lord, 
Sir Launcelot Dowdall, who, hearing of the issue of the battle 
of the Boyne, and the fate of the monarch to whose religion and 
politics his family had been so long attached, and fearing the 
approach of the victorious English army, declared, on the news 
reaching him, that the Prince of Orange should never rest 
under his ancestral roof. The threat was carried into execution. 
Dowdall set fire to his castle at nightfall, and, crossing the Boyne, 
sat down upon its opposite bank, from whence, as tradition re- 

* This fine old tower is now draped with ivy, planted by the hand of Miss 
Edgeworth. 



HEROISM OF ITS LAST OCCUPANT. 133 

ports, he beheld the last timber in his noble mansion blazing and 
nickering in the calm summer's night, then crash amidst the 
smouldering ruins ; and when its final eructation of smoke and 
flame was given forth, and the pale light of morning was steal- 
ing over that scene of desolation, with an aching and a despair- 
ing heart he turned from the once happy scene of his youth 
and manhood, and, flying to the Continent, shortly after his 
royal master, never returned to this country. All that re- 
mained of this castle and estate were forfeited in 1700. Many 
a gallant Irish soldier lost his life, and many a noble Irish gen- 
tleman forfeited his broad lands, that day. We wish their cause 
had been a better one, and the monarch for whom they bled 
more worthy such an honour.* 

The inhabitants of Navan, like those of most Irish towns 
through which a river runs, have turned their backs upon the 
stream, scarcely a glimpse of which can be obtained from any 
of its narrow streets. There is here a picturesque weir, and 
immediately below the bridge which crosses it on the Drogheda 
road, the Boyne receives the Blackwater, which is there nearly 
as large as the stream into which it flows. There are also two 
valuable and extensive flour mills at this point. 

As we only engaged to present our readers with scenes of 
beauty or of interest, we cannot be expected to devote much 
of our space to a description of Navan ! — a dirty, ill-built, 
straggling collection of houses, boasting the honour of having 
been half 'a county-town. It contains, however, 5000 inha- 



* Tradition gives us another, but by no means so probable a story about 
Athluniney castle, -which refers to an earlier date. It is said that two 
sisters occupied the ancient castles of Athluniney and Blackcastle, -which latter 
-was situated on the opposite bank of the river ; and the heroine of the latter, jea- 
lous of her rival in Athluniney, took the following means of being revenged. She 
made her enter into an agreement, that to prevent their mansions falling into 
the hands of Cromwell and his soldiers, they should set fire to them at the 
same moment, as soon as the news of bis approach reached them, and that a 
fire being bghted upon one was to be the signal for the conflagration of the 
other. In the mean time the wily mistress of Blackcastle had a quantity of 
dry brush-wood placed on one of the towers of the castle, -which, upon a cer- 
tain night, she lighted ; and the inhabitants of Athlumney perceiving the ap- 
pointed signal, set fire to their mansion, and burned it to the ground. In the 
morning the deception was manifest. Athlumney was a mass of blackened, 
smoking ruins, while Blackcastle still reared its proud form above the woods, 
and still afforded shelter to its haughty mistress. 



134 NAVAN. 

bitants, and is not without its wealthy trader and thriving 
petty merchant. A church, a chapel, an infirmary, a bride- 
well, workhouse, and fever hospital, constitute its modern 
erections. It was originally a parliamentary borough, and in 
olden times was a place of considerable note, having been 
walled by Hugh de Lacy, and containing an abbey, founded 
by Jocelyn de Nangle, on the site now occupied by the bar- 
rack. It is probable that a cross existed in this town ; and, 
in all likelihood, it stood in the market-place, where all the 
passing funerals now make a solemn circuit. A friend of our's 
possesses a portion of a small sculptured cross lately dug up at 
Navan. 

The original name of Navan was Nuachongbhail. The An- 
nals of the Four Masters afford us an account of a great 
plundering of Meath, as far as Tara, by the O'Neills and 
O'Donnells, in the year 1539*. " They obtained immense and 
innumerable spoils on this expedition, for the Irish had not in 
latter times assembled to oppose the English army that de- 
stroyed more of the property of Meath than this plundering 
army; for many were spoils of gold and silver, copper, iron, 
and every sort of goods and valuables, besides what they took 
from the towns of Ardee and Nuachongbhail, which they ut- 
terly plundered on that expedition."* When Lord Justice 
Leonard heard of this, he collected all the English forces in 
Ireland, and pursuing the invaders came up with them at Bal- 
lahoe in Farney, where a battle ensued, in which the Irish 
were completly routed."}" 

A branch of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway has lately 
been extended to this place ; it crosses the Boyne upon a series 
of arches immediately below Athlumney Castle, and in the 

* In a note upon this word, Nuachongbhail, by O'Donovan, in the second 
volume of the published copy of the Annals, we read : " It appears from the 
Life of St. Fechin, published by Colgan, that this was the ancient name of the 
place where the town of Navan, in Meath, now stands : ' Nuahchongbhail est 
oppidum Mediae ad ripam Boinnii fluvii a Pontani [Drogheda] decern millibus 
passuum distans ab Authrumnia quinque.' — Acta Sanct. pp. 135, 141. 

" In the account of this invasion of the Pale given in the Annals of Kilronan, 
this town is called an LI aril, which is its present Irish name, as pronounced by 
the natives of Meath. Ware, who seems to have known the ancient and modern 
names of this place, calls it Navan, in his Annals of Ireland at this year." 

f See Some Account of the Territory and Dominion of Farney, by E. P. 
Shirley, Esq., M. P., already referred to. 



A RECENTLY DISCOVERED SOUTERRAIN. 135 

cuttings on the eastern side of the river were discovered a 
quantity of most interesting antiquities, bridle-bits and horse 
trappings of iron, bronze, and silver, rings, buckles, head-stalls, 
peytrells, and clasps, &c. ; besides a large collection of bones, 
both human and those of the lower animals.* While these 
pages were passing through the press, a most extensive souter- 
rain was discovered in the cutting of the railway on the wes- 
tern bank, just under Athlumney, consisting of a straight pas- 
sage fifty- three feet and a-half long, eight broad, and six high, 
branching into two smaller passages which run off at right 
angles from it, and ending in two circular bee-hive shaped 
chambers, precisely similar to those at Clady, together form- 
ing the figure of a cross. The walls of this great cave hav- 
ing risen to a height of about four feet and a half, they then 
begin to incline, and the roof is formed by enormous flag-stones 
laid across ; these stones are all rough and undressed, and 
are placed together without mortar or cement. This exten- 
sive cave, so recently discovered, will form an additional ob- 
ject of attraction to the tourist. A few bones of oxen are all 
that have as yet been found in it.f 

The meeting of the waters of the Boyne and Blackwater at 
Navan forms the natural division between the second and 
third portions of the former. Let us in the next chapter follow 
and describe the course of the latter. 



* These antiquities are in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy ; so far so 
good. A very perfect human skull, and fragments of two others, were found in this 
heap. For these fragments (which are good specimens of the long-headed early 
Irish race) we are indebted to Mr. Wakeman. The only perfect head found 
was sent out of the country ; it was given to the late Dr. Prichard, immedi- 
ately before his death, and no account of it has since appeared. We are not 
collectors ; we have not the least desire to possess either bones or brasses ; if 
stich came into our possession we should feel ourselves bound to give them, 
sooner or later, either to the national collection of the Academy or to some of 
our friends who might have museums ; but we confess we feel indignant when 
we see things of this class sent out of the country without either drawings, 
casts, or models, having been first made of them. Like ourselves, our late 
friend Dr. Prichard did not value skulls merely as old bones, so a good cast 
of this head found at Navan would have answered all his purposes j ust as well. 

f A somewhat similar cave may be seen in Mr. Metge's grounds, not far dis- 
tant from Navan. 



136 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BLACKWATER. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE BLACKWATER OF MEATH ; ORIGIN OF ITS NAME.— ST. PATRICK'S CURSE.— 
THE RIVER'S SOURCE AT LOUGH RAMOR.— VIRGINIA.— ST. KTERAN'S WELL, CHURCH, AND 
CROSSES.— SQUARE FORTS.— HILL OF LLOYD.— KELLS ; ITS EARLY HISTORY.— HOUSE OF ST. 
COLUMBKJLL.— ROUND TOWER.— THE CROSS.— ANNALS OF KELLS.— HEADFORD. — TAILTEAN, 
ONE OF THE ANCIENT SEATS- OF MONARCHY ; ITS EARLY HISTORY ; ITS GAMES, BATTLES, 
FAIRS, AND MARRIAGES.— THE PRESENT APPEARANCE OF TELTOWN ; ITS HILL, PATHS, AND LE- 
GEN DS.— ST. PATRICK AND KING LOEGHAIRE.-^>ONAGHPATEICK ,• ITS HISTORY ; THE MOATE AND 
CHURCHYARD.— THE CHURCH AND CASTLE OF LISCARTON. — RATHALDRON ; ITS CASTLE.— 
MONUMENTAL CROSS OF NEVINSTOWN. 

The Blackwater runs out of Lough Ramor, or Loch Muinrea- 
mhar, in the south-eastern extremity of the county of Cavan ; it 
would appear, however, from some notices in the ancient topo- 
graphies, that the true source of the river was in the hilly dis- 
trict of Sliabh-Guaire, to the north of Virginia. This river re- 
sembles in a remarkable manner that to which it is tributary, 
the Boyne, exhibiting the same even but tortuous course, wind- 
ing through the same fertile meadows, and its banks presenting 
similar scenes of sylvan beauty, adorned by the same description 
of feudal and monastic remains, and commemorated by localities 
memorable in history and in song ; the palaces of Pagan kings ; 
the raths of warriors ; the pillar-stones of Druids ; the foot- 
prints of early Christian saints, their oratories, round towers, 
and churches, their wells and crosses ; and the battle-fields, for- 
tresses, and castellated mansions of more modern times. The 
entire length of the river, following its various windings from 
its source to Navan, is about twenty miles ; its direction is 
from north-west to south-east ; and the great northern road 
from Navan to Virginia, through Kells, passes first upon its 
northern, and then upon its southern bank, for the entire of 
its course, and so close to it that nearly all the objects of in- 
terest, or that are worthy of inspection, on this river, are more 
easy of access than those on any other which we are acquainted 
with. 

The name Blackwater is applied to several rivers in Ireland, 
the most celebrated of which is the magnificent Blackwater of 



THE BLACKWATER. 1 37 

the south.* In the topographical description of the Boyne at 
the commencement of this work, we hazarded a conjecture (p. 
25), that the river called Finnabhainn [i. e. White River] in the 
very ancient histories was no other than that now denominated 
the Blackwater of Meath, because it is said to have its source 
in Sliabh-Guaire,| a district in the vicinity of Lough Ramor, 
to which we have already alluded ; and a small stream which 
flows into this lake of Cavan lends support to this idea, and is 
in all probability the true source of the river, in the same 
manner as the Shannon, though said to rise in Lough Allen, has 
its real source in the neighbouring mountain of Sliabh an Ia- 
rainn. Abhainn Sele was the name of this river till the time of 
St. Patrick, who, having cursed it, its waters are said to have 
assumed a peculiar dark hue, and it has ever since been known 
by its present name of Abhainn Dubh. The circumstance 
is thus recorded in a passage in the Tripartite Life of St. Pa- 
trick, \ which likewise serves to fix the situation of Tailtean 
or Teltenia: "Prima autem feria venit Patricius adTalteniam: 
ubi regiae nundinae et publici regni ludi et certamina quotan- 
nis servari solebant. Ibique convenit Carbreum Nielli filium, 
et Laogarii Regis fratrem fratrique animi ferocia et increduli- 
tate similem. Huic S. Patricius verbum vitae praedicaret vi- 
amque salutis ostenderet, vir adamantini cordis, non solum 
recusavit prEedicatae veritate credere, sed viam vitae proponenti 
machinabatur mortem: et in vicinio fluvio nomine Sele Sancti 
viri socios flagellis excepit, quia Patricius eum appellavit ini- 
micum Dei." — Trias Thaum. p. 129. Colgan adds in a note : 
" Fluvio nomine Sele, cap. 4, hodie fluvius hie Abha-dhubh id 
est fluvius niger, appellatur." 

We shall have occasion again to refer to this insult offered 
by the sons of Carbre and Loeghaire to Patrick, when we come 
to describe Teltown. 

Lough Ramor, from which the Blackwater flows, is a very 
beautiful sheet of water, charmingly irregular, and studded 
with islands, several of which, as well as its undulating sides, 
are tastefully planted. The lake, which is said to have burst 



* See Mr. O'Flanagan's charming work on the southern Blackwater. 
f See Leabhar-na-g Ceart, or the Book of Bights, published by the Celtic 
Society, p. 188. 

% Trias Thaumaturga, part. ii. c. 4, p. 173, N. 14. 



138 SQUARE FORTS. 

from Sliabli Guaire,* is about five miles in length, and from a 
mile to a mile and a half in breadth. In the year A. D. 845, 
King Malachy I., who first broke down the Danish power in 
Ireland, attacked and destroyed an island in this lake, on which 
a number of Irish outlaws and rebels of Meath, who joined 
the Danes against their own monarch, had fortified themselves. 
The Irish annals state that these rebels were in the habit of 
plundering the districts in the neighbourhood of the lake 
"more Gentilium;" and that Malachy destroyed their island, 
and put themselves to death. Upon its northern shore stands 
the neat little town of Virginia, where the tourist who may 
wish to visit the source of the Sele will find admirable accom- 
modation. After a course of about a mile and a half, the 
river touches Meath at the barony of Castlekieran, having 
the coach-road parallel with, and but a short distance from 
it. It now completely enters Meath, through which county 
it passes during the remainder of its course. For the 
first few miles the only objects of antiquarian interest in its 
vicinity are a number of forts and earthen raths, which 
crowd upon both sides of the river, and show the military 
importance of this locality, as well as its populous condi- 
tion, in early times. Several of these enclosures are of great 
extent, and two which stand upon the immediate brink of the 
stream are worthy of note, from the peculiarity of their form, 
being perfectly square. 

About three miles above Kells, on the southern bank of the 
river we meet the first group of interesting antiquarian re- 
mains, consisting of the ancient Church of St. Kieran, with the 
remains of five termon crosses in its vicinity, four of which are 
placed north, south, east, and west of the ruin. The northern 
one was erected in a ford in the river, a very remarkable si- 
tuation for one of these early Christian structures. The base 
still stands in its original locality, but the shaft, the arms, 
and the top were removed, it is said, many years ago, by some 
good Protestant, who, anxious to show his loyalty, as well as 
his detestation of such idolatrous structures, threw them into 
into an adjoining deep pool in the river. Such is one of the 
local traditions, but we shall presently relate another just as 
probable. 

* Annals of the Four Masters, A. D. 2859 ; and see note y, p. 10. 



ST. kieran's cross. 



139 



The accompanying illustration represents the cross which 
exists upon the south side of the church. It is not quite so 
large as that ivpon the north, 
which measures twelve feet in 
height, although the upper por- 
tion (that above the circle) has 
been broken off. The western 
cross is very imperfect ; one of its 
arms and a portion of the head 
having long since been destroyed. 
The old tradition current among 
the people here concerning these 
crosses is, that St. Kieran had a 
number of them hewn at the quar- 
ry of Carrickleck, and brought 
here to adorn his church. They 
were the wonder, the admiration, 
and — alas ! that such a sentiment 
should enter into the breast of 
Christian saints — the envy also 
of all the neighbouring saints and 
church builders. St. Columb, 
who was then erecting his church 
and tower at Kells, cast, it is said, 
a longing eye upon St. Kieran's 
crosses: he came by night and 
surreptitiously abstracted at least 
three of these, which the tradi- 
tionary legend says are those noAV 

remaining at Kells. At last, upon the night that he was tak- 
ing away the fourth, St. Kieran awoke, and caught him in this 
very act of petty larceny. Kieran immediately "buckled" in 
his brother of Kells, just as he was stepping into the ford of 
the river with the base of the cross on his back; but the latter 
being the younger and the stronger man, the cross-owner was 
soon worsted. He wasn't, however, to be bet so asily, so he still 
held fast by the thief, who, seeing that he could not get off clear 
with his booty, threw it into the middle of the river, from 
which it has never since been removed, and where, except 
during a heavy Hood, it is always to be seen. 

It is hard to hear those slanders of the good St. Columb, or 




140 SAINTLY LEGENDS. 

of any saint in the calendar ; but still it must be confessed, that, 
notwithstanding his piety, and what appears to have been a 
stronger feeling with him, his taste for architecture and church 
founding, he was often the cause of fierce wars and family 
broils among his not very peaceable countrymen, constantly 
stirring up agitation and fomenting rebellion, for which he 
came under the just censure of his superiors, was obliged to 
do penance, and was finally, it is said, sent off to Iona, 
which was then, perhaps, a sort of Norfolk Island, to which 
unruly Irish saints were transported. These saintly errors 
are, it is true, but idle rumours, but some way or other dark 
allusions to them have crept into the Annals, and even into 
the written lives of our Irish saints, who, after all, appear to 
have been but men, swayed by like passions with poor sinning 
mortals of the present day. 

The original name of this place, to which frequent references 
occur in the Annals, was Bealach-duin, the " Eoad or Pass 
of the Fort," and from the numerous raths in its vicinity, and 
all along the river, it must have been, like most other Irish 
names of places, a very significant appellation. Here we read 
that Ciaran, or Kieran, the Pious, died on the 14th of June, 
770 ; so that, notwithstanding the force of tradition — to which, 
by the way, some of St. Columb's successors still attach so 
much value — authentic history enables us, from the positive 
anachronism of the legend, to acquit the great churchfounder 
of having stolen the crosses. The spot thus consecrated by St. 
Kieran was afterwards called Disert Chiarain, from which the 
present barony and parish of Castle-Kieran takes its name.* 

The church, no portion of which can be regarded as the 
original structure founded by St. Kieran, is a small oblong 
building, erected apparently upon low arches, of a late period 
of Gothic architecture, and quite devoid of mouldings or or- 



* See the Annals of the Four Masters at the years A. D. 770, 778, 855, 868, 
&c, with O'Donovan's notes thereon. These references are to volumes yet 
unpublished, and for permission to examine which we are deeply indebted to our 
friend George Smith, Esq. There was a Patron held here formerly. O'Clery 
places the festival day of St. Kieran on the 14th of June, the day of his death. 
Dean Butler, in his notes to John Dymmok's " Treatise on Ireland," published 
by the Archaeological Society, says Castle- Kieran is sometimes called " Trystel 
Kieran," and that " there was a church here appropriated to the Priory of St. 
John the Baptist at Kells." 



ST. kieran's well. 141 

nament, — a sort of crypt. Its direction is, as usual, east and 
west. No doorway or window-case remains, to indicate by 
their style the period to which the church might be referred ; 
but judging from the masonry, which consists of small stones 
and rubble- work set in an unusually great quantity of mortar, 
we should consider it an erection of a period not earlier 
than the fourteenth century. Of the three nearly perfect 
crosses, one is placed at a short distance to the west of the 
church, one to the south, and the third and largest, though 
least perfect, to the north. The base of a fourth is found to 
the east ; so that originally the church must have been placed 
between four crosses. Unlike the exquisite remains of the same 
class, at Kells and Monasterboice, these crosses were, except 
the circle by which the head and arms are connected together, 
almost totally devoid of ornament or sculpture of any kind. 

There is also in the graveyard a fine specimen of the oldest 
style of monumental stone found in Ireland, but it bears no 
inscription. 




About a furlong's length to the west of the old church may 
be seen St. Kieran's well, one of the most beautiful holy wells 
in Ireland, and shaded by a hoary ash tree of surpassing 
size and beauty, which is faithfully represented in the 
accompanying graphic delineation. The well is situated on 
the side of a beautiful and exquisitely green sloping bank, 
upon which the neighbouring sheep love to congregate. It 



142 OUR HOLY WELLS. 

springs from a limestone rock of considerable extent ; and ap- 
pears first in a small natural basin immediately at the foot of 
the tree. 

Within the well are several trouts, each about half a pound 
weight. They have been there " as long as the oldest inha- 
bitants can recollect," and, strange to tell, they are said not to 
have grown an ounce within that period ! These fish are held 
in the highest veneration by the people, who, when the well 
is being annually cleansed of weeds, carefully preserve the 
blessed creatures, and replace them as soon as possible. 

About ten years ago a report spread over Meath and the 
surrounding counties, that Saint Kieran's ash tree vras bleed- 
ing, and thousands of people flocked to the place to witness 
the wonder, and many brought with them vessels and bottles 
in which they hoped to carry away a portion of the miraculous 
fluid. With this it was hoped they might perform cures such 
as " common doctors" could not even attempt. 

" The holy wells — the living wells — the cool, the fresh, the pure — 
A thousand ages rolled away, and still those founts endure ; 
And while their stainless chastity and lasting life have birth 
Amid the oozy cells and caves of gross material earth, 
The scripture of creation holds no fairer type than they — 
That an immortal spirit can be linked with human clay ! 
How sweet, of old, the bubbling gush — no less to antlered race, 
Than to the hunter and the hound that smote them in the chase ! 
The cottage hearth, the convent J s wall, the battlemented tower, 
Grew up around the crystal springs as well as flag and flower ; 
The brooklime and the water-cress were evidence of health, 
Abiding in those basins, free to Poverty and Wealth : 
The city sent pale sufferers there, the faded brow to dip, 
And woo the water to depose some bloom upon the lip ; 
The wounded warrior dragged him towards the unforgotten tide, 
And deemed the draught a heavenlier gift than triumph to his side. 
The stag, the hunter, and the hound, the druid and the saint, 
And anchorite. are gone, and even the lineaments grown faint, 
Of those old ruins into which, for monuments, had sunk 
The glorious homes that held, like shrines, the monarch and the monk."* 

The Blackwater, or Owen Duff, as it is called by the pea- 
santry, now winds on towards. Kells, the church and round 
tower of which appear in the distance ; and to the south-west 
the beautifully verdant hill of Lloyd, with its lighthouse-like 

* The Holy Wells of Ireland, by J. D. Ffraser, in " The Ballad Poetry of 
Ireland." 



KELLS. 143 

observatory, from which a most commanding prospect can be 
obtained, attracts attention. The river then bends somewhat 
to the south, and in the splendid demesne of Headford spreads 
out into a series of small lakes and ponds, partly natural and 
partly artificial, and encloses several small islands. This noble 
demesne, belonging to the Marquis of Headford, though pos- 
sessing no natural features that attract attention, " has in its 
general appearance a degree of magnificence arising from its 
extent, unity of design, the richness of the verdure, the long 
and gently inclined plains into which the surface is naturally 
disposed, and the arrangement and preservation of the planta- 
tions;"* but the grounds are at present very much neglected, 
and the long-continued want of a resident proprietor is but too 
manifest throughout. 

Within three-quarters of a mile to the south-west of the 
river stands Kells, one of the most memorable places in early 
Irish ecclesiastical history. The modern town is pleasingly 
situated, and its principal streets present several very charm- 
ing views of the adjoining ruins, of which the round tower, the 
beautifully sculptured cross in the market-place, and St. 
Columbkill's house in the north-western suburb, are the most 
remarkable. The neighbouring demesne of Headford, with 
some well-grown timber adjoining, the general graceful out- 
line, and the fertility and high state of cultivation of the sur- 
rounding district, all conduce to set off" to considerable advan- 
tage this little town. The population of this place in 1841 
was 4205, located in about 600 houses. 

The name by which this town is generally known in early 
Christian and middle age writings is Ceanannus, head-fort or 
residence — Kenlis. We read in the Annals of the Four Mas- 
ters that, a few years prior to the Christian era, King Fiacha- 
Finnailches erectedDzm- Chuile-Sibri?me, which Mac Geoghegan, 
in his translation of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, says was cer- 
tainly Kells. " It was by this king that the earth was first 
dug in Ireland that water might be in wells. It was difficult 
for the stalk to sustain its corn in his reign. Every calf that 
was brought forth in his reign was white-headed, "f — A. M. 

* See Fraser's Hand-Book for Travellers in Ireland, p. 494. 
f Annals of the Four Masters, with Translation and Notes, by John O'Dono- 
van, Esq. Dublin : Hodges and Smith. Now in process of publication. 



144 



ST. COLUMB KILL'S HOUSE. 



3972 to 3991, — and hence the King's cognomen of Finnail- 
ches, according to the bards. The celebrated Cormac Mac Art 
is said to have resided for some time at Kells. Dermod, the 
son of Fergus Kervaill, made a grant of this place to St. Columb, 
who founded a monastery here about the year 550, and dedi- 
cated it to the Virgin Mary. No vestiges of this structure at 
present exist. There are, however, some architectural remains 
here, of about that period, of surpassing interest; of these 
perhaps the most interesting is that figured in the adjoining 
wood-cut, generally known as St. Columb's House, a small, 
arched, and stone-roofed building.* 




This is supposed to have been used as a small chapel or ora- 
tory, as well as a dwelling-house, like what is called St. Kevin's 
Kitchen at Glendalough, and the house of St. Flannan at Kil- 
laloe. Several descriptions of this building have been given. 

* The accompanying view of St. Columbkill's house, which will afford the 
reader a better idea of its appearance than any description ofour's, was drawn 
by Mr. Wakeman, and published in his useful little work, already so frequently 
referred to. 



ST. columbkill's house. 145 

The following, by Dr. Petrie, is the most accurate: " This re- 
markable building is, in its ground plan, of a simple oblong 
form, measuring externally twenty-three feet nine inches in 
length, and twenty-one feet in breadth, and the walls are three 
feet ten inches in thickness. It is roofed with stone, and mea- 
sures in height, from its base to the vertex of the gable, thirty- 
eight feet ; and as the height of the roof and width of the side 
walls are nearly equal, the gables form very nearly equilate- 
ral triangles. The lower part of the building is arched semi- 
circularly with stone, and has at the east end a small semicir- 
cular-headed window, about fifteen feet from the ground ; and 
at the south side there is a second window with a triangular, 
or straight-lined head, about the same height from the ground, 
and measuring one foot nine inches in height. These windows 
splay considerably upon the inside. The present entrance 
doorway of this building, which is placed in the south wall, is 
obviously not original or ancient; and the original doorway, 
which is now built up, was placed in the west end, and at a 
height of eight feet from the ground. The apartment placed 
between the arched floor and the slanting roof is six feet in 
height, and appears to have been originally 
divided into three compartments of unequal 
size, of which the largest is lighted by a 
small aperture at the east end. In this 
chamber is a flat stone, six feet long and 
one foot thick, now called St. Columb's pe- 
nitential bed."* The accompanying illus- 
tration shows the character of the angular- 
headed window just alluded to. 

When we last visited this house it was 
inhabited by a miserable, wretched family. 

We next turn to the round tower which 
stands beside the wall of the churchyard, and of which the 
illustration upon the next page is a very good view. 

This tower is a very perfect specimen of those interesting 
and almost peculiarly Irish structures. It is about 100 
feet high, with a door some ten feet from the ground. The 
top, though not the roof, is still nearly perfect ; in it there are 

* See Dr. Petrie's Essay on the Origin and Uses of the Round Towers of 
Ireland. Dublin : Hodges and Smith. 

L 




146 



THE KOUND TOWER OF KELLS. 




four windows, remarkable for presenting examples of the 
three varieties of such apertures found in round towers, 
namely, with square, 
round, and triangu- 
lar heads. 

As the conclu- 
sions arrived at by 
Dr. Petrie, with re- 
spect to the origin 
and uses of the 
Round Towers of 
Ireland, cannot be 
too widely dissemi- 
nated, or too gene- 
rally known, and as, 
moreover, this at 
Kells, and that at 
Donoughmore, on 
the Boyne, near Na- 
van, are, even to the 
tourist and the po- 
pular reader, highly confirmatory of his views, we here insert 
the general results of his inquiries. 

I. " That the towers are of Christian and ecclesiastical ori- 
gin, and were erected at various periods between the fifth and 
thirteenth centuries." In support of this position the learned 
author remarks, that " the towers are never found uncon- 
nected with ancient ecclesiastical foundations. Their architec- 
tural styles exhibit no features or peculiarities not equally 
found in the original churches with which they are locally 
connected, when such remain. On several of them Christian 
emblems are observable, and others display in the details a 
style of architecture universally acknowledged to be of Chris- 
tian origin. They possess invariably architectural features not 
found in any buildings in Ireland ascertained to be of Pagan 
times. 

II. "That they were designed to answer, at least a twofold 
use, namely, to serve as belfries, and as keeps or places of 
strength, in which the sacred utensils, books, relics, and other 
valuables, were deposited, and into which the ecclesiastics to 
whom they belonged could retire for security in cases of sud- 



THE CHURCH TOWER AND ITS INSCRIPTION. 147 

den predatory attack." The proofs adduced in support of this 
are, that " their architectural construction, as will appear, 
eminently favours this conclusion. A variety of passages, ex- 
tracted from our Annals and other authentic documents, will 
prove that they were constantly applied to both these purposes." 

III. " That they were probably also used, when occasion 
required, as beacons and watch-towers. There are some his- 
torical evidences which render such a hypothesis extremely 
probable. The necessity which must have existed in early 
Christian times for such beacons and watch-towers, and the 
perfect fitness of the round towers to answer such purposes, 
will strongly support this conclusion." 

Adjoining this round tower is an ancient cross, beautifully 
sculptured, eleven feet four inches high, the base of which has 
been very recently uncovered; and within the enclosure of the 
churchyard, near the belfry, the remains of a second, still 
larger, the shaft alone measuring ten feet six inches ; the 
third — the great sculptured cross of Kells — stands in the 
market-place of the town. 

The square bell- tower stands distinct and separate from the 
modern church ; it consists of three stories ending in a spire ; 
and some sculptured stones and tablets, probably much older 
than this structure, are built into its side walls, as well as an 
ancient inscription in old "black letter characters, recording 
the re-edification of the adjoining church in 1578.* 

* For the following literal transcript of this inscription we are indebted to 
our learned friend, Joseph Huband Smith, Esq. It is on two separate stones : 

" ffli)t ionic of the church being in utter rurme antr trecaie teas rectii= 
fietr in armo tromini, 1578, et in anno rr (£Ii?abcth xx throghe tbe trilig— 
ce antf care of tbe rebcrentre father in (frott hughe bratftj bpshop of 
meathe antr Sir &home Sarnie archeBieacon of the same antr tieane of 
tfjrist cburcb Bubline botfie of here maiestie is priue consaile Sir ^tnrie 
Sitmerj fenigbt of the nobll ortfirc being tbenc lortr treputie Sec. the saiB 
reeBifing teas begone antt seatt forteartr be the atrbnse antr train 

" earful! trabacll of the auncient burgis Nicholas IB— then being 
suffraine of feenllts 2 of Sulii anno pretficto tour; other train furtherens 
boght tbe roteff of this c uppon his otein prib chargis &titt is not unright— 
at ^ sbultr forget the teorfeeantJ labour that precetretr tehich lobe is shetoetr 
for his name is sake." 

A few miles from Kells (but not sufficiently near to be included in our ex- 
cursion along the Blackwater) is the old Church of Kathmore, a picturesque 
ruin, with a most interesting tablet still existing inserted in its walls ; and a 

l2 



148 



THE CROSS OF KELLS. 



The great Cross of Kells, of which we here present our rea- 
ders with a wood engraving, is one of the most beautiful in 
Ireland, and, although not so 
tall or massive, may in elegance 
of design, inform, and in variety 
and perfection of sculpture, and 
the richness of ornament, be 
classed with the crosses of Mo- 
nasterboice and Clonmacnoise. 
The shaft is eight feet nine 
inches high: when perfect, it 
must have been nearly twelve 
feet high. The width across the 
arms is five feet four inches. 
The top, which in our large 
Irish crosses is often carved in 
the shape of a small church or 
shrine, has been broken off, but 
the base, which is rather larger 
than usual, being fifteen feet 
in girth, is very perfect, and 
well worthy of minute atten- 
tion. On it may be seen, as 
on some of the ancient friezes, 
a series of mounted figures, ap- 
parently in procession, in good 
relief. Both the figures of the 
men and horses remind us j 
strongly of some of the old 
Greek and Eoman friezes. The 
shaft, arms, and circle, are of one entire stone.* 

Kells was at one time strongly fortified. The castle, said to 
have been erected by Walter de Lacy, stood near the site of the 

tombstone erected in 1531, to the memory of Christopher Plunket, son of 
Sir Alexander Plunket, who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1492. There 
is here also a fragment of a sepulchral cross. See Mr. Huband Smith's com- 
munication on the subject in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy for 
12th June, 1848, p. 184, vol. iv. 

* There is a tradition current that the shaft of this cross was prostrate till 
placed upon its pedestal by Dean Swift. Another fact connected with this 
cross, still keenly remembered by the inhabitants of Kells, is, that it formed 
part of the gallows from which several men were hanged in 1798. 




THE ANNALS OF KELLS. 149 

great cross, and one of the towers of the town wall still stand 
on the south-western side of the church. 

The Annals of Kells would fill a volume such as this ; we 
can here only allude to a few of the most remarkable historic 
events which occurred here. We already mentioned the erec - 
tion of the early ecclesiastical buildings at Kells by St. Co- 
lumb. It is recorded that in 806 Cellah, Abbot of Iona, 
took refuge here from the Norwegians, and repaired or re- 
built the abbey. Numerous battles were fought, both within 
and on the plains around Kells, which sustained several 
sieges, and was frequently plundered, sacked, burned, and 
destroyed ; its churches robbed, its shrines polluted, its 
altars desecrated, its relics stolen; its abbots and monks 
murdered, and its soldiers and inhabitants either butchered 
or carried off as prisoners by the Irish themselves, by the 
English settlers, or by the Danish invaders, for upwards of 
nine hundred years. Plague, pestilence, and famine, the sword, 
fire, battle, murder, and sudden death, form the chief items in 
the records of this ancient and most celebrated place. We read 
that Sitric and the Danes of Dublin made great havoc of all 
things belonging to this abbey in 1108, and Edward Bruce 
defeated Lord Roger Mortimer, and burned the towm of Kells 
in 1315; — and thus might we occupy an entire chapter. 

One of the most valuable pieces of antiquity connected with 
this place, and which has come down to modern times, is the 
celebrated Book of Kells, a most beautifully illuminated Irish 
manuscript, still preserved in the library of Trinity College. 

Descending the river upon the northern bank we arrive at 
Teltown, about midway between Kells and Navan. This is 
one of the most celebrated spots in Ireland ; perhaps, next to 
Tara, it is the most ancient, if not the most notable. An entire 
chapter might be devoted to it, describing its topography, trans- 
cribing its annals, relating its legends,T— Pagan and Christian, — 
and giving a detailed account of its battles, sham and real ; its 
fairs, games, sports, and marriages ; these, however, would far 
exceed the limits of a guide-book, intended chiefly to direct 
the tourist, and point out the scenic beauty, and the memora- 
ble localities upon the hitherto neglected Boyne and Black- 
water, which is all this little work pretends to. Let the fol- 
lowing notice suffice. Upon a green hill sloping gradually 
from the water's edge, and rising to a height of about 300 



150 tailtean; 

feet, amidst the most fertile grazing lands in Meath, if not in 
Ireland, may be seen a large earthen fort, about a furlong's 
length to the right of the road, with a few hollows or exca- 
vations in the adjoining lands, apparently the sites of small, 
dried up lakes ; and to the left of the road, nearly opposite 
these, parts of the trench and embankments of two other forts, 
which, judging from the portions still remaining, must have 
been of immense size, greater even than any of those now ex- 
isting at Tara. These mark the sites of the early Pagan set- 
tlement, and the position of the palace of Tailtean, one of the 
four royal residences which existed in Ireland in very early 
times. 

The first notice which the Annals record of Tailtean (the name 
of which is still preserved in the modern Teltown) is, that in 
the year of the world 3370, in the reign of Lugh Lamhfhada, 
" The fair of Tailltean was established in commemoration and 
in remembrance of his foster-mother Tailte, the daughter of 
Maghmor, King of Spain, and the wife of Eochaidh, son of Ere, 
the last king of the Firbolgs."* This fair continued down to 
the time of Roderick O' Conor, the last monarch of Ireland, 
and was held annually upon the first of August, which month 
derives its name in the Irish language from this very circum- 
stance, being still called Lugh-nasadh, or Lugh's fair, — the 
Lammas day, — to which several superstitious rites and ancient 
ceremonies still attach throughout the country generally. 
Upon these occasions various sports and pastimes, a descrip- 
tion of Olympic Games, were celebrated, consisting of feats of 
strength and agility in wrestling, boxing, running, and such- 
like manly sports, as well as horse races and chariot races. Be- 
sides these the people were entertained with shows and rude 
theatrical exhibitions. Among these latter are enumerated 
sham battles and also aquatic fights, which it is said were exhi- 
bited upon the artificial lakes, the sites of which are still pointed 
out. Tradition assigns the site of the fair to that portion of the 
great rath still existing upon the northern side of the road, and 
about a quarter of a mile to the north-east of the great fort, or 
Rath Dubh ; j" and here it is said the most remarkable of the Tel- 

* Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. 

f None of these localities, with the exception of the great fort and the two 
adjoining hollows, are marked upon the Ordnance Map. Indeed the remains 
of Tailtean have been, except by Mr. O'Donovan, in his unpublished letters, 



ITS SPORTS AND MARRIAGES. 151 

town ceremonies took place — the marriages or betrothals. Upon 
one side of this great embankment were ranged, it is said," the 
boys," and on the other "the girls;" the former ogling, the 
latter blushing ; for human nature is, we suppose, the same at 
all times and in all places, among our forefathers and mothers 
at Teltown upwards of a thousand years ago, or in a modern 
drawing-room, or at a flower-show or review. They then, hav- 
ing had a good view of each other, passed down a little to the 
south, where there is a deep hollow in the land, evidently formed 
artificially, probably the ditch of one of the ancient forts, and 
called Lug-an-Eany, where they became separated by a high 
wall, which prevented their seeing each other. In this wall, say 
the local traditions, there was a door with a small hole in it, 
through which each young lady passed her middle finger, which 
the men upon the other side looked at, and if any of them ad- 
mired the finger he laid hold of it, and the lass to whom it be- 
longed forthwith became his bride ; so that we find a fair and 
pretty hand, a delicate and taper finger, with its snowy skin 
and delicately formed nail, were even more captivating among 
the Irish lads and lasses some twelve hundred years ago than 
they are at the present day. He took her for better for worse, 
but the key-hole or wooden ring was not as binding as the mo- 
dern one of gold ; for, by the laws of Tailtean, the marriage 
only held good for a year and a day. If the couple disagreed 
during that time they returned to Tailtean, walked into the 
centre of Rath Dubh, stood back to back, one facing the north, 
and the other the south, and walked out of the fort, a divorced 
couple, free to try their luck again at Lug-an-Eany.* What 
a pity there is no Teltown or Black Fort marriage in the pre- 
sent day ! What numbers would take advantage of it ! 

In the bottom of this hollow there is a well, which in wet 
weather overflows, and its waters trickle down the adjoining 
hill towards the Blackwater. Leading nearly southward from 
this spot we pass down the remains of an ancient paved, but 
now grass-grown way, called " Cromwell's road," and near 

altogether too much neglected. There exists ample material, both from the 
records and the existing remains here, for a very interesting archaeological pa- 
per on the subject. 

* A somewhat similar custom existed in Wales, and parts of England and 
Scotland, till very lately. The expression, " a Teltown marriage," is often used 
in Meath to this day. 



152 THE GREAT FORT OF TAILTEAN. 

where this joins the modern main road there is another hollow, 
still containing some water, pointed out as the site of one of 
the artificial lakes. The fair of Tailtean was continued up to 
about eighty years ago, and some vestiges of the sports, parti- 
cularly the fighting, existed within the memory of man at a 
Patron which used to be held on the opposite side of the river.* 

The Great Fort, or Rath Dubh, measures round the outer 
wall of circumvallation 321 paces, having openings in it nearly 
due north and south. The height of the surrounding earthen 
embankment varies from fifteen to twenty feet. Standing in 
the centre of this great fort we again obtain one of those re- 
freshing views which we have so often attempted to describe 
when following the course of the Boyne. Looking up towards 
the north-west, the hill of Lloyd presents a grand and impos- 
ing object. Below it the eye rests upon the steeple and round 
tower of Kells, appearing to rise out of the woods of Headford; 
while in the extreme distance the round hills of Cavan bound 
the horizon. Immediately around us is a country of immense 
fertility and with a gently undulating surface, divided into 
fields of great size, — that in which Ave stand contains nearly 
100 acres, — bordered by rows of well-grown timber, rising 
out of tall quickset hedges. There is scarcely a cottage, or 
even a farmer's house, to be seen. All seems one vast pasture 
farm, through which the Sele winds in pleasing curves, pre- 
senting glimpses of its dark blue waters among the flowery 
meadows which stretch along its brink. The wooded hill of 
Foughan rises up beyond it to the south-west, and following 
its track by the little ruined church of Teltown, by the 
heights of Donaghpatrick, over the woods of Liscarton, above 
which the old castle in that locality topples, and by the plan- 
tations of Kathaldron, the eye rests upon the hills of Skreen 
and Tara in the extreme north-eastern distance. 

St. Patrick visited the royal residence of Tailtean early in 
his missionary career, and not merely in the local legends, but 
in the written Lives of that saint, we meet with abundance of 

* This meeting and rustic pastime was, we understand, suppressed by the 
neighbouring magistrates and clergy about thirty years ago, in consequence of 
the rioting which generally took place there. It is a remarkable circumstance, 
and confirmatory of the conjecture of its being a remnant of the Teltown 
sports, that this assembly, though called a Patron, was not held in honour 
of any saint, but upon Lammas Day. 



ST. PATRICK AND KING LOEGHAIRE. 153 

tales and fables regarding the miracles and the wonders which 
he wrought here upon the sons and servants of Cairbre, brother 
of King Loeghaire. 

Many of the legends told of Patrick by the people nere are 
evidently but paraphrases of his " doings" at Tara. The 
Shadrach, Aleshach, and Abed-nego story about the fire trial 
between the servant of Patrick and the servant of the Druid 
gets here a new dress, with new names and "entirely new 
scenery, machinery, decorations, and processions." King Loe- 
ghaire or Leary (not Cairbre), who was a wonderful Druid 
and powerful magician entirely, is the chief personage in the 
Tailtean fables. After being defeated in various trials of 
skill and necromancy with the saint, who could make no 
hand of him at all, Patrick was forced to put him down 
into a dark " condemned hole," near the river, called to this 
day, " an t-aithghearr go h-Iffrionn," " the short road to 
hell," where the heathen king, Loeghaire, is still believed 
to be, if he never got any farther. Some fool-hardy people 
went a few years ago to lift mooreen out of this spot, but 
they had scarcely broke the scraw that covered the soft sur- 
face of the hollow, when a terrible roaring was heard com- 
ing up out of the bottom of the earth, and presently a most 
vinimous sarpint, with a long mane and a head as big as a 
horse, riz up out of the pit, and looked about him ; but when 
he saw nobody, for all the men had run away, lie drew him- 
self down again, and no one ever attempted to make any in- 
quiries after the ould king of the black rath since. But all 
that is nothing to what happened at the building of Dona- 
patrick Church hard by. Every one knows that Prince Conall 
gave the saint one of his beautiful raths there to build a 
church upon, and that the workmen engaged in the erection 
of it came very short of provisions one hard summer, — just, for 
all the world, like the year before last. TTell, Loeghaire when 
he heard that, sent him a furiously wicked bull that was the 
terror of the whole country, and used to be horning and aiting 
every body that came next or nigh him, — he was as cross and 
as thievish as the ould king himself, — in hopes that he'd finish 
the blessed man all out. The baste was sent over to the other 
side of the water, and when he saw St. Patrick, he stopt bel- 
lowing and snorting all of a sudden, and was as quiet as a suck- 
ing calf. ' Kill him,' says the saint; so they made a great feast 



154 THE CHURCH OF TELTOWN. 

of him. Next day the king came down to the river side, just 
walking along mighty easily, letting on as if he didn't want to 
know anything about what happened, but hoping all the while 
that the bull had made a meal of some of the good Christians. 
He wasn't long there when some of the saint's servants bid 
him the time of day, and told him how much they enjoyed the 
bull, which, we may be sure, was no ways pleasing to his ma- 
jesty; but to convince him, not only of the truth of the story, 
but to give him a taste of his power, St. Patrick ordered his 
servants to bring out the well-picked bones, and to tie them 
up in the skin, and to throw them into the river to Leary. 
That was easy enough, but then comes the miracle. The 
bundle had hardly touched the water, when out of it rose the 
bull, well and harty, large as life, bone to bone, and sinew to 
sinew, and swam over to the king. And yet, for all this, his- 
tory records that the old reprobate died in his mother Church, 
and was buried in the hill of Tara, in a standing position, ac- 
coutred in his battle dress. Conversions of old people or 
grown up men and women are not as common or as easy as 
people imagine. 

A short distance above Teltown the river is crossed by 
Bloomsbury Bridge; but the tourist will find greater and 
more frequent objects of attraction on the northern bank, till 
he reaches Donaghpatrick, about a mile and a quarter lower- 
down. 

In the valley, by the water's edge, about midway between 
these two places, and beside a broad curve of the river, we 
meet the ruins of Cill-Tailltean, the little church of Teltown, 
which was plundered by Diarmaid Mac Murchadha and the 
Danes in 1156, and again by the same prince and the English 
in 1170, in their marauding excursions among the rich 
churches of East Meath. 

We now arrive at Donaghpatrick, which takes its name from 
Domnach-Padraig, the ancient church of Patrick, which for- 
merly stood here, on the site now occupied by the modern 
parish church. This was the " Ecclesia Patricii Magna," the 
Domnach Mor, or great church, sixty feet long, so frequently 
alluded to in our Irish hagiology,* one of the earliest daimh- 
laigs, or stone sacred edifices, erected in Ireland after the in- 

* See Petrie's Round Towers. 



DONAGHPATRICK. 155 

troduction of Christianity. It is related in the life of St. 
Patrick, attributed to St. Erin, and published by Colgan in 
the Trias Tliaumaturga, that Conall, the brother of King 
Loeghaire, who resided here, not only gladly accepted Chris- 
tianity, and was baptized, bnt also showed great kindness to 
Patrick, and gave him his house or rath on which to erect a 
church ; and the outline of this very cashel can still be dis- 
cerned in the present graveyard. The only other evidence 
of great antiquity now remaining here, is what appears to be 
a fragment of a gable tombstone similar to that still existing 
at Slane, of which we give a drawing, in the description of that 
place (p. 182). It can be seen just protruding above ground 
to the south of the present church. 

Upon the left of the road, as we approach the church, stands, 
without exception, one of the very finest raths of the military 
class to be seen in Ireland. It is of immense size, but, its out- 
line being now obscured by trees and much underwood, it 
escaped the notice of the Ordnance surveyors, and has not been 
marked on the map of this part of Meath. It much resem- 
bles that at Downpatrick, consisting of a central circular 
mound, rising gradually out of several circumvallations, or 
earthen embankments, four of which can still be traced ; the 
great ring fort at Dowth, and the King's Rath enclosing the 
Forradh at Tara, and Eath Dubh at Tailtean, extend over a 
greater space; but of its kind there is nothing to compare 
with this along the Boyne or Blackwater. 

It is much to be regretted that earthen mounds of this de- 
scription should be planted ; a graceful tree at top, or a few 
growing on the sides, add to their picturesqueness ; but co- 
vering them with trees and underwood quite obscures their 
form and conceals their purpose. May not this moat have 
been the celebrated Rath Airthir, the eastern fort, now Oris- 
town ; or even the house which the good Conall erected for 
himself after he so hospitably gave his own to Patrick? 

From hence to Kavan objects of almost equal interest and 
beauty present themselves on both sides of the river. The 
scenery is the same, presenting graceful, well- wooded, swelling 
undulations of surface, adorned by the seats of resident pro- 
prietors, with some interesting antiquarian remains; castles, 
churches, moats, crosses, occurring in nearly equal numbers, 
and of similar value on both sides. Upon the south-western 



156 LISCARTON CASTLE. 

bank we have Liscarton castle, and the ruins of its most beau- 
tiful Gothic church; Ardbraccan,and the fine moat of Navan ; 
and on the north-eastern road, Eathaldron House, and the old 
cross of Nevinstown, with a much finer view of the river and 
the surrounding country than that which can be obtained from 
the opposite side. 



The accompanying view presents us with Liscarton castle, 
(which is still in part inhabited), and the adjoining dwelling- 
house. It is pleasingly situated on a green lawn sloping to 
the river : and a short distance to the west of it, surrounded 
with trees, stands the church just alluded to, forming in the 
shade of the surrounding grove, with its tall, light, pointed 
windows, a most charming picture. 

This castle appears to have been, from its strength and 
extent, of great importance. We know little of its history, 
except that in 1633 it belonged to Sir William Talbot, Bart., 
who held it of the king in capite per servitium militare. It ori- 
ginally consisted of two large quadrangular towers, connected 
together by a large hall, the roof of which no longer exists, 
but its position is shown by marks in the wall at either end. 
The thatched, modern-looking building shown in the accom- 
panying cut is a portion of one of the towers much reduced in 
height. The church is remarkable for the extreme beauty of 
its eastern and western windows, each of which consists of one 
great light, divided by a shaft branching off on a level with 
the spring of the arch into two members, which join the arch- 
head about the centre of the curve. An exquisite variety of 



THE WAY-SIDE CROSS OF NEVINSTOWN. 157 

tracery, in the decorated style of Gothic architecture, fills the 
head of both windows, and the mouldings are deep and well 
executed. Upon the exterior face may be observed well carved 
human heads projecting from the drip stone. There were two 
doorways, one in each side wall, near the western end. 

The moat of Navan, about a mile and a half lower down 
upon this side of the river, and which forms such a conspicuous 
object from all sides, is of the military class, and well worthy 
of inspection, from its size and its appearing to have been in 
part formed out of the natural hill. 

Upon the opposite bank we have Gibbstown, with its noble 
approach, and Rathaldron castellated mansion, partly ancient 
and partly modern, approached by one of the finest avenues 
of lime trees in Meath, perhaps in Ireland ; it consists of a 
strong, well-built quadrangular tower, of very considerable 
antiquity, to which a handsome castellated dwelling-house has 
lately been added. Not far from it, in a field towards the east, 
we meet the way-side cross of Nevinstown. As Mr. J. Huband 
Smith has presented the Royal Irish Academy with a detailed 
description of this relic, we shall here quote his judicious 
and accurate observations from the published Proceedings of 
that body: 

" One side bears an inscription ; the opposite has a shield, 
with armorial bearings, party per pale, nearly effaced. Beneath 
the dexter side are the initial letters M. C, and, under the 
sinister, M. D. The height of the shaft is at present three feet 
six inches above the slab, in which a socket is cut to receive 
the tenon upon the lower end of the shaft. This slab stands 
on alow grassy hillock, the remains, doubtless, of an ascent of 
three or four stone steps, which, when complete, the cross 
surmounted. 

" A restoration of the entire inscription showed that the 
upper part of the shaft had been broken off, and with it the 
first line of the inscription. Of what remains the first line is 
illegible, but the rest is tolerably distinct. It is in the black- 
letter character of the sixteenth century, the letters being 
beautifully formed; and (filling up the contractions) it runs 
thus: 

" ' ^rmtgcrt, ft JHargareta' Bcxttr uxoris ejus ac rjcrtfJum 

Eorurr* qui ijanc crtutm ftctrunt anno Bomtrti 1588 quorum ammabus 
propicietur SJetts, ^men.' 



158 THE DEXTER S AND CUSACKS. 

" This inscription leaves little doubt that this memorial was 
one of the wayside crosses so generally erected by the piety of 
individuals about the sixteenth and the preceding centuries, 
but which the ill-directed zeal of a subsequent period so un- 
sparingly mutilated, and often wholly destroyed. Upon inquiry 
it proved that a road, leading from Navan to Rathaldron Cas- 
tle, long the residence of one of the principal branches of the 
ancient family of the Cusacks, once passed close in front of this 
cross." 

The name of the husband of Margaret Dexter Mr. Smith 
soon after learned from a manuscript in the possession of 
Mr. H. T. Cusack. " This MS. is written in French, and 
entitled 'An Historical Memoir and Genealogy of the an- 
cient and illustrious House of Cusack, of the Kingdom of 
Ireland.' It appears to have been compiled by the Chevalier 
O'Gorman in the year 1767. It states that' Michael de Cusack, 
lord of Portrane and Rathaldron, married Margaret Dexter, 
who brought him, as a marriage portion, the castle, town, and 
lands of Rathaldron. He was ' Greffier' [a term which Boyer 
translates 'Registrar,' or Keeper of the Rolls] of Westmeath 
and of Louth in 1553, one of the Barons of the Exchequer in 
1580, and died in 15 89-' From this it may be safely concluded 
that the initials ' M. C upon the cross are those of ' Michael 
Cusack,' and that his was the name sculptured on the upper 
part of the cross, now lost." 



159 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE BOYNE FROM NAVAN TO SLANE. 

DONAGHMORE ROUND TOWER. — BLACKCASTLE.— BABES' BRIDGE.— ARDMULCHAN.— -DUNMOE. — 
STACKALLAN BRIDGE. — CASTLE DEXTER. — BEAUPARC. — FENNOR, — SLAKE CASTLE. — THE 
HERMITAGE OF ST. ERC— VIEW FROM THE HILL OF SLANE.— THE ARRIVAL OF ST. PATRICK.— 
NAME AND ORIGIN OF SLANE.— FERTA-FEAR FEIG. — THE MONASTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL 
RUINS.— AN ANCIENT TOMB. 

From Navan to theBoyne's mouth the river, though intersected 
by several weirs, and descending several rapids, has been ren- 
dered navigable by means of a canal, affording transit to lighters 
of several tons' burden, by which a considerable traffic, particu- 
larly of coals and corn, is carried on between this place and 
Drogheda. Along the road by this canal and the river the 
tourist can walk to Beauparc, or descend, as we have effected 
the voyage, in a boat, drawn by a single horse ; and this mode 
of conveyance we would strongly recommend to our friends, 
not only as the least fatiguing, particularly for ladies, but also 
as enabling the tourist to cross the river at pleasure, for it is 
only in some places that the canal is necessary. 

Immediately on leaving Navan, where the river resumes 
its original north-easterly direction, the scene reminds one 
strongly of some of the views upon the Dutch canals. The 
river here is deep, and its current slow, the force of the water 
being retained by a weir lower down. On the left bank stands 
Blackcastle, the seat of the Rothwells, — a square, modern 
building, designed more for comfort than architectural beauty ; 
but the grounds, which are naturally picturesque, are well 
laid out, and afford many pleasing prospects of woodland glade 
and sloping meadow, as we descend the river ; and the wood 
which skirts the stream throws a cool refreshing shade on its 
left bank, for above a mile of its course. 

Adjoining the demesne of Blackcastle, on the Slane road, 
about a mile from Navan, on the western bank of the river, 
we pass the group of ecclesiastical ruins figured in the en- 
graving upon the next page, the round tower and church of 
Donoughmore. 

The original church, called Domnach-mor-muighe Echnach, 



160 



DONAGHMORE CHURCH AND TOWER. 




the great church of the plain of Echnach, is said to owe its 
origin to St. Patrick, who gave it to his disciple Cassanus. 
As this interesting group of 
ecclesiastical remains, which 
forms such a charming pic- 
ture from every side by 
which we approach it, has 
been accurately described 
by Dr. Petrie, and as the 
tower itself is in every re- 
spect not only one of the 
most picturesque in appear- 
ance, but one of the most 
conclusive as to the Chris- 
tian origin of these struc- 
tures in Ireland, we afford 
our readers the following 
detailed account of it and 
the adjoining church, from 
the pen of the great au- 
thority alluded to, rather 

than any description of our own. He has given an account 
of this tower in two places, — in the Transactions of the Royal 
Irish Academy, where there is a drawing of the doorway, and 
in the Irish Penny Journal, from which latter, being the most 
detailed, we quote. 

Regarding the erection of the great church at Domnach- 
mor, we learn from a passage in the Tripartite Life of St. Pa- 
trick, that, 

" ' While the man of God was baptizing the people called 
Luaignii, at a place where the church of Domnach-mor in the 
plain of Echnach stands at this day, he called to him his dis- 
ciple Cassanus, and committed to him the care of the church 
recently erected there, preadmonishing him, and with prophetic 
mouth predicting that he might expect that to be the place of 
his resurrection ; and that the church committed to his care 
would always remain diminutive in size and structure, but 
great and celebrated in honour and veneration. The event 
has proved this prophecy to be a true one, for St. Cassanus's 
relics are there to be seen in the highest veneration among the 
people, remarkable for great miracles, so that scarcely any of 



DONAGHMORE ROUND TOWER. 161 

the visitors go away without recovering health, or receiving 
other gifts of grace sought for. 1 — Tr. Th. p. 130. 

" But though the existing ruins of the church of Donagh- 
more sufficiently indicate it to have been a structure ' dimi- 
nutive in size,' its architectural features clearly prove that it 
is not the original church of St. Patrick's erection, but a re- 
edification of the thirteenth century, in the usual style of the 
parish churches erected by the Anglo-Norman settlers within 
the Pale. Neither can the round tower, though unquestion- 
ably a structure of much higher antiquity than the present 
church, be referred to the time of the Irish apostle, or perhaps 
to an earlier age than the ninth or tenth century. At all events 
its erection cannot be ascribed to an earlier date than that of 
the tower of the church of Kells, — a religious establishment 
founded by St. Columbkille in the sixth century, — as these 
towers so perfectly agree in architectural style and mason- 
work, that they appear to have been constructed by the same 
architects or builders. 

" This very beautiful tower is built entirely of limestone, 
undressed, except around the doorway and other apertures, and 
is of admirable masonry. It has two projecting ledges or steps 
at its base, and six rests for stories, with intermediate project- 
ing stones or brackets in its interior. These stories are each, 
as usual, lighted by a single aperture, with the exception of 
the upper one, which has two openings, one facing the east, 
and the other the west ; and the apertures present all the 
architectural varieties of form observable in our most ancient 
churches.* The circumference of this tower, near its base, is 
sixty-six feet six inches, and its height, to the slant of the roof, 
which is wanting, is about 100 feet. The wall is three feet 
nine inches in thickness, and the doorway is twelve feet from 
the ground. This doorway, which is of very beautiful execu- 
tion, and, as usual, faces the west end of the church, is five 
feet two inches in height, and has inclined sides, and a semi- 



* Since this was written the top of Donaghmore tower has been repaired ; 
but while we must, with every admirer of the ancient architecture of Ireland, 
and every one who desires to see those ruins preserved from utter destruction, 
applaud the motive that induced this reparation, we cannot but regret that 
more attention was not paid to the form of the tops of other round towers In 
this modern top there are no windows whatever, an anomaly in Irish round 
towers. 

M 



162 



DONAGHMORE. 



circularly arched top. It is two feet three inches wide at bot- 
tom, and two feet beneath the spring of the arch at top. Over 
the door there is the figure of the Saviour sculptured in relief, 
partly on the key-stone and partly on the stone over it ; and 
on each side of the architrave there is a human head, also in 
relief, as on the doorway of the church of Kells. 

" Some antiquaries, in their zeal to support the theory of 
the Pagan origin and the antiquity of the round towers, have 
asserted that this doorway is not the original one, but an 
' after work.' But there is not the slightest ground for such 
a supposition, and this sculpture, as a profoundly skilled ar- 
chitectural antiquary, the late Sir Kichard Colt Hoare, well 
observed, furnishes ' a decided proof that these buildings 
were not (as some writers have conjectured) built by the 
Pagans.' 

" A similar argument against the application of the round 
towers to the purposes of a belfry, has been grounded on the 
circumstance of the western front of the church having three 
apertures for bells above its gable. But it should not be for- 
gotten that this structure has no claim to an earlier date than 
the thirteenth century, when a variety of bells, and a different 
mode of hanging them, were brought into use by the Anglo- 
Norman settlers. 

"The church of Donagh- 
more has been confounded 
by Archdall and subsequent 
writers with the ancient 
church of Domnach- Tor- 
tain, also founded by St. 
Patrick, but which was 
situated near Ardbraccan." 

Since the above was writ- 
ten we visited, in company 
with Dr. Petrie, the round 
tower of Brechin in Scot- 
land, and had there an op- 
portunity of seeing a very 
perfect and much more 
finished representation of 
the Crucifixion, carved in relief, on the top stone of the door- 
way; and that tower is probably not older than the tenth 




KNOCK- A-RAYMON. 163 

century ; there is also a hatchment with heraldic devices carved, 
in relief, on the front of the door-sill. 

The foregoing wood-cut is a faithful representation of the 
figure over the door of Donaghmore tower. 

A mile below Navan, there is a large flax factory, which, 
like other similar establishments, though highly advantageous 
to the country, is no addition to the picturesqueness of the 
scenery. Beyond this mill we pass an abrupt bank, called 
Knock-a-Raymon, in which, a few years ago, a vast quantity of 
animal remains, and some sepulchral urns in small kistvaens 
were discovered. It was evidently one of the barrows of the 
aborigines ; and we record the circumstance here, not from any 
present interest attached to the place, for it is now but a potato 
garden, but because we feel that the name and locality of every 
spot of Irish ground, in which such records of our ancestry are 
discovered, should be carefully noted, in order that the histo- 
rian and the searcher into the unpublished manuscripts and 
archives, which are being now, for the first time, properly exa- 
mined, may be aware of the fact, — for a vast number of 
these cairns and tumuli are alluded to in the annals referring 
to the Pagan occupation of this country. Not far from this 
point, we find the sacred well of Tober Ruadh; and now 
the right bank spreads out into broad meadows, glowing 
with the bright yellow blossoms of the butter-cups and may- 
flowers. 

At the first lock upon the canal, an abrupt precipitous hill, 
the Knockminaune, or Kids' Hill, is crowned by a minor tumu- 
lus, the view from the summit of which commands the church 
of Ardmulchan, and two of the most interesting objects in the 
beauties of the Boyne, — the round tower of Donaghmore, 
already described, and the grey massive castle of Dunmoe. 
Seen from this point, the tall slender tower rising out of the 
green woods of Blackcastle, and cutting clear and sharp on the 
horizon, against the blue sky, forms an object of intense in- 
terest and beauty in this most charming landscape ; and lower 
down upon the river's bank, the ancient fortress of the D' Arcys 
stands in gloom and grandeur on a brown and generally ver- 
dureless mound, without a tree or a single spot of green to re- 
lieve the sombre hue of its high walls and flanking towers. 

The contrast between these two memorials of the art and 
history of this country is very striking, and tells the tale of 

m 2 



164 babe's bridge. 

times to boast of, and also to mourn. The stately, chaste, and 
simple style of the early pillar, whose age cannot be far from 
1000 years, added to the knowledge which we possess of the 
erection of the original church which once adj oined it, points 
to the first preaching of Christianity in our island, when a few 
devout Christians and some of the early fathers of the Irish 
Church settled round these buildings, and passed a life of pas- 
toral quiet and simplicity ; and now, surrounded by patriarchal 
timber, and reverenced by the people, it remains almost as per- 
fect as when it came from the hands of the mason ; and may 
continue so for centuries yet to come, unless some prying 
and infatuated antiquary should be allowed to grope under 
its foundation, for fragments of human bones to decorate 
museums, or give to the vulgar and uninformed some fan- 
cied proof of a theory as unintelligible as it is absurd. Turn 
to the castle of the D'Arcys, — a thing comparatively of yes- 
terday, marking the boundary of the English Pale : it tells 
of the worst days of misrule in this unhappy land, where, 
without conquering the proud hearts, or gaining the warm 
affections of the Irish, the Anglo-Norman barons, who, with 
mailed hearts as well as backs, — neither civilizing nor enrich- 
ing the country, — resided amongst us.* It is now fast falling 
into decay, and in a few years more will be but a great cairn 
of stones. 

A bridge crossed the Boyne below this point in former days, 
a single arch of which, upon the right bank of the river, still 
remains. Before its complete demolition, it went by the name 
of Farginston's, or " the Robbers' Bridge," tradition says, on 
account of some noted horse-stealers, in the early part of the 
last century, having made it their chief resort. The country 
people also tell us, that Cromwell's army crossed it in its pas- 
sage up the Boyne ; and a village poet, named Courtney, has 
celebrated this ancient pass in some doggerel rhymes, which 
still live in the mouths of the neighbouring peasantry. The 
ancient name was " Babe's Bridge," and that it was one of the 



* It struck the Times Commissioner, who commenced the late crusade 
against the Irish landlords, that the great majority of them are English, or of 
English descent. Is it known to the world, that while English settlers have 
become the proprietors, there never was any extensive importation of English 
farmers or yeomen into the southern and western parts of Ireland ? 



ARDMULCHAN. 



165 



earliest bridges upon the Boyne may be learned from James 
Grace's Annals of Ireland, where we read, that, in the year 
1330, " there was also a great flood, especially of the Boyne, by 
which all the bridges on that river, except Babe's, were car- 
ried away, and other mischief done, at Trim and Drogheda." 

The next points of interest are, Ardmulchan church upon 
the right, and somewhat below it, Dunmoe Castle, upon the 
left. And here the true beauties of the Boyne, its real 
Rhine-like characters, commence, and crowd upon us for the 
next few miles of its course. High beetling crags, crowned 
by feudal halls and ruined chapels, — steep, precipitous banks, 
covered with the noblest monarchs of the forest, — dells, con- 
secrated to the moonlight dance of sprites and elfins, and rocks, 
memorable for their tales of love, and legends of the olden 
time, catch the eye at every turn in this noble stream, present- 
ing new beauties, ever -varying pictures, here in sunshine, 
there in shade, with charming bits of scenery, which simple 
prose cannot describe : the painter's art alone can embody, or 
give an accurate representation of these. We " stop not for 
brake, and we stay not for stone ;" clear and blue the stream 
runs fast, and we must onward with its course, skimming 
lightly over its surface, rather inciting inquiry by our re- 
marks, and directing attention in our researches, than at- 
tempting anything like an elaborate or detailed description. 

The ruins of Ardmulchan (Ard-Maelchon, or Maelchu's 
height), top one of the highest banks above a bold stretch of 
the river, and consist of a tall square tower or belfry, and the 
remains of a church, which stands surrounded by an ancient 
graveyard, and some walls, 



believed to be part of one 

of the castles of the Tyr- 

rells. That this church 

tower is composed of the 

material of some earlier 

building may be learned 

from the fact of the lintel 

in one of its upper doors 

being formed of an ancient 

sculptured tombstone, as 

shown in the accompanying wood-cut. We are well aware 

that crosses are sometimes found carved on the soffit of the 




166 DUNMOE CASTLE. 

lintel in some very ancient church doors ; but they are not of 
the same description, nor partially concealed, like this at 
Ardmulchan. 

In the year 968, Amlaff Cuaran, with his Danes, and a party 
of Leinstermen, plundered Kells, and carried off a vast prey of 
cows, and gained a victory over the southern Hy-Neill at 
Ard-Maelchon.* 

Ardmulchan belonged at one period to the Earl of Kildare. 
By an inquisition taken in the tenth year of the reign of James 
I., it was found that in the parish church of St. Mary (Ard- 
mulchan) was a perpetual chantry of one priest, who was con- 
stantly to celebrate service therein, and this chantry was a body 
corporate. It at present belongs to the rectory of Painstown. 
A very beautiful well below this spot is worthy of attention ; 
and a short distance beyond the church we meet with an ancient 
military fort, consisting of a circular mound, enclosed with a 
fosse and rampart. A grove of ash- trees now covers the en- 
tire, their tall, slender stems permitting the outline of this 
ancient relic to be seen at a considerable distance, while their 
feathery tops form an umbrageous shadow to the whole. Miss 
Beaufort, in her learned "Essay upon the State of Architecture 
and Antiquities previous to the landing of the Anglo-Normans 
in Ireland,"! informs us that a kistvaen or small stone cham- 
ber was discovered at Ardmulchan some years back, by a gen- 
tleman, in removing an artificial tumulus. It contained several 
skeletons, urns, and some golden ornaments. Into a deep pool 
in the river, opposite Taaffe's lock, called Lug-Gorrom, or the 
Blue Hole, it is said that the bells of this church were 
thrown at the time of the Eeformation. 

Dunmoe Castle stands on a commanding eminence, above 
one of the fords upon the Boyne, and must have been origi- 
nally a position of considerable strength. The stones, how- 
ever, with which it is built, are remarkably small, in con- 
sequence of which it is yearly crumbling into a shapeless mass 
of ruins. It is an oblong pile, with circular flanking towers 
on its river face, which measures seventy-three feet.J It was 

* Annals of the Four Masters. 

f Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xv. p. 159. 
j The accompanying sketch, by Mr. Wakeman, is taken from the right bank 
of the river. In Mr. Thomas Cromwell's "Excursions through Ireland, " 1820, 



DUNMOE CASTLE. 



167 



originally built, it is said, by De Lacy, but the present struc- 
ture bears the evidence of an Anglo-Norman keep of the 
sixteenth century. It has had many masters and stood seve- 
ral sieges in its day. During the civil wars of 1641, after the 
defeat of the English forces near Julianstown, an Irish de- 
tachment was sent to take Dunmoe ; but Captain Power, who 
commanded it, with a mere handful of men, so long and bravely 
resisted his assailants, that the latter had to resort to strata- 
gem to take it, and by producing a forged order from the 
Lords Justices, Parsons and Borlace, induced its gallant de- 
fender to surrender the castle and proceed to Dublin. Oliver 
Cromwell, it is said, took a passing shot at it from the opposite 
bank of the Boyne, but did not think it worthy of further 
notice. The ball which he fired at Dunmoe, or one shown as 




such, was, until a very recent period, used as a weight at 
a neighbouring crane. This castle was re-edified and in- 
habited while James II. was in Ireland. Its last lord was 
D'Arcy, whose name is now usually associated with it. The 



will be found a beautiful draAving, by Petrie, of Dunmoe Castle, vol. ii. p. 79. 
Since then it has been considerably dilapidated. 



168 ARDMULCHAN CHURCH. 

peasantry state that an underground passage leads from it 
under the Boyne to the opposite bank. Dunmoe was burned 
in 1 799, but a portion of the roof remained within the last thirty 
years. Within the adjoining enclosure is a small chapel con- 
taining the mausoleum of its last lords ; it is now a filthy dun- 
geon, exposed to the atmosphere, and strewed with the bones 
and coffins of the descendants of this once noble family. Some 
twenty years more, and the traveller will have to inquire for 
the site of this celebrated castle of the Pale. 

" I walked one day ad own the Boyne, 
From Domnach-Mor to Slaine; 
How rich the fields on every side, 
In cattle, wood, or grain. 

The river flowed in summer pride, 

And on its banks of green, 
How many a noble ancient home 

Seemed sent'nelling the scene. 

I marked the salmon springing free, 

Beneath the glittering fall ; 
I heard the cuckoo in the glen 

Kepeat her welcome call. 

The hare would skip from out the green, 

And, sporting on the lea, 
Seem mad with joy — with very joy, — 

0, who so blythe as he ? 

The nearer kine had left the field, 

To cool them in mid-stream ; 
"With glossy sides and switching tails, 

They stood, and seemed to dream. 

The sheep-bells tingled on the hill ; 

And from the mossy wheel 
That flashing plays 'neath old Dunmoe 

An ancient sound would steal."* 

The ruins at Ardmulchan adjoin the direct road between 
Navan and Drogheda on the southern bank of the river, and the 
railway passes immediately beside them. This southern road, 
though it does not here command views of the Boyne, presents 
many objects of great interest, and passes through a charming 



" Vigilantius," in the Irishman. One who knows the Boyne well. 



STACKALLAN. 169 

country. Leaving Ardniulchan, with its adjoining demesne, 
on the left, we pass by Hayes, the Meath residence of the pre- 
sent Earl of Mayo; and on the road side between that and 
Beauparc, we meet two fine raths, — one of considerable ex- 
tent, and overlooking the river, Cw the horse fort" near the cross 
roads leading to Stackallan-bridge, and the other a little further 
on, at Dollardstown, a most picturesque wooded mount, with a 
surrounding fosse and ditch. A few trees, such as these upon this 
mound are rather an improvement ; but when raths are covered 
with low underwood or brushwood, or completely obscured by 
timber, as at Donaghpatrick and New Grange, we lose much 
of their scenic effect. Several other raths stand by the way- 
side between this point and Drogheda ; and lower down towards 
Eosnaree, where the road skirts the river, we obtain views 
of those great sepulchral pyramids, which form the cemetery of 
Brugh-na-Boinne, particularly those of Knowth, New Grange, 
Dowth, and that elegantly shaped little rath which stands in a 
green meadow within a bold stretch of the river opposite 
Koughgrange. 

Presuming, however, that the tourist has descended the river 
in a boat, or loitered by one or other of its margins, we would 
conduct him to our next point of interest, Stackallan, where 
Broad Boy ne Bridge, leading to the Slane and Navan road, crosses 
the river. In the immediate vicinity is the residence of Viscount 
Boyne, lately occupied by the Seminary or CollegeofSt.Columba. 
This, like almost every spot of ground along the Boyne and 
Blackwater, to which a name attaches, has been commemorated 
in our ancient histories. Its Irish name is Tigh Collain — Teach- 
Collan, the house of Collan, which was, we read, situate in the 
ancient territory of Ui-Crimhthainn, at present comprised in 
the baronies of Upper and Lower Slane.* 

In the neighbourhood of Stackallan, upon the Slane and 
Navan road, on the northern bank of the river, there are two 



* O'Donovan, in his note on the record of the death of ;{ Cethemach, bishop 
from Teach-Callain," -who died on a pilgrimage at Hi, A. D. 1047, writes : 
" It is curious to remark, that in some of those districts, colonized by the Danes 
and English, the Teach or Tigh, of the Irish, was made Sta or Sti, as in this 
instance [Stackallan], and in Stickillen, Stagonnell, Stillorgan, in Irish 
Gig Chillfn, Ceac ChoncuU, Cig loncdm." The same learned authority 
thinks the name should be Cecic Condfn, St. Conan's house. See Annals 
of the Four Masters, p. 851, A. D. 1047. 



170 BARONSTOWN CROSS. 

trivial objects, still not so uninteresting as to be passed by with- 
out a peep into the one and a glance at the other, if only to 
assist us in making good the promise contained in our first 
chapter as to the multitude and variety of remains extending 
along the Boyne. These are Tober Padraig, a blessed well, de- 
dicated to our patron saint, but now neglected and disused, and 
Barons town cross, a wayside monumental cross, the pillar or 
shaft of which, supported by a short pedestal or base, still stands 
on a small knoll near the road ; the head has been broken into 
fragments, several of which may be seen scattered around. This 
monument was erected by one of the Dowdalls, the great cross- 
builders of Meath, of whose memorials of piety and affection 
two other examples of a similar description may be seen not 
far off, one in the town of Duleek, and the other at Annes- 
brook, in its neighbourhood. The shaft of this cross at Barons- 
town is four-sided, and on each face there is a rather rude 
and ill-spelled inscription. Upon the western face, beneath 
a figure of St. Patrick, we read, 

" I PRAY YOU, SAINT PATRICK, PRAY FOR THE SOULES OF 
OLIVER PLUNKET, LORD BARON OF LOUTH, AND DAME JENET 
DOWDAL, HIS WIFE." 

Upon the south front : — 

" THIS CROSSE WAS BULDED BY DAME JANET DOWDALL, LATE 
WIFE UNTO OLIVER PLUNKET, LORD BARON OF LOUTH, FOR HIM 
AND HERSELFE, IN THE YERE OF OUR LORD GOD" * * * [Pro- 
bably 1590.] 

Underneath a rude image of St. Peter, on the east side: — 

" I PRAY YOU, SAINT PETER, PRAY FOR THE SOULES OF OLIVER 
PLUNKET, LORD BARON OF LOUTH, AND DAME JENET DOWDAL, 

HIS WIFE." 

On the back, towards the north, under a plain shield, 
similar to that which exists at top of the south front, is the 
" Hail Mary," and an invocation for the prayers of the Virgin. 

A little to the south-east of Broad Boyne Bridge, another 
military fort (this may be the house of Cletty of the Irish 
writers), similar to that at Ardmulchan, appears on the 
right bank. The river here forms a smooth, glass-like sheet of 
water, and below the bridge affords us one of those striking 
effects which the weirs upon the Boyne exhibit, of a long 



BROAD BOYNE BRIDGE. 17 1 

unbroken line of liquid, bent into a graceful curve, goldened 
with the sunshine, as it glides in swift but silent track over 
the long horse-shoe, fall, and then breaks into a million 
streams — its spray dancing in the sunshine, and its bubbles 
reflecting all the prismatic colours of the rainbow, as it again 
springs onward in its course. These charming effects, whether 
varied by the grey morning's light, or the evening's uncertain 
haze, or having an air of obscurity thrown over them by the 
veils of mist which rise and play round the fall, or float like 
phantoms over the broad surface of the river — here assuming 
the figure of a stately vessel, there rising into tall, castellated 
form — creeping under the arches of bridges, re-appearing in an 
instant ; wrapping in their shroud the aged trees, which dip into 
the waters, — drifting again along the surface, like the broken 
fragments of some tall iceberg, and suddenly lifted above the 
mirror on which they play, leaving the surface on which they 
had appeared to breathe, again unbroken on its outline, — add 
not a little to keep those scenes in our remembrance. If we stand 
at sundown on the bridge of Slane, when there is any body of 
water in the river, on a calm summer's evening, listening to 
the soothing monotony of the fall, and cast our eyes over the 
broad reach of the Boyne above, we cannot fail to be struck 
with the effect which is here attempted to be described. 

The broad reach of the river below the bridge at Stackallan 
has been supposed by some antiquarians to be in the vicinity 
of Brugh-na-Boinne, one, if not the chief of the royal cemete- 
ries, and where the monarchs of Tara were interred of old ; 
but we think the evidence is in favour of a locality lower 
down beyond Slane, to which we shall presently refer. A deep 
pool, immediately below the bridge, receives the name of Luga- 
ree, the king's hole, where the river well deserves the name of 
the " Broad Boyne," which it still retains. Some ancient pagan 
remembrances and superstitions attached to this locality, up 
to a very recent date ; and, at a Patron which used to be held 
here some years ago, it was customary for the people to swim 
their cattle across the river at this spot, as a charm against 
fairies and certain diseases, as in former times they drove them 
through the Gap of Tara.* 

* The same practice is still observed at Newtown-Trim upon the first Sun- 
day in August. St. Sinchea's well, Tober t-Sinne, is said to be in the neighbour- 



172 BEAUPARC. 

To many of our readers, however, and most of the tourists 
who may follow our wanderings, or require a guide-book in 
their excursion, a more interesting subject than ancient cus- 
toms, or even the tombs of kings, invites us onward ; for the 
wood-crowned heights and leafy banks of Beauparc, one of the 
most picturesque spots in Ireland, and the noble demesne of 
Slane, lie immediately before us. Beyond the fall of Stackal- 
lan we pass through the most delicious scenery, particularly 
along the left bank, where groves of noble beech trees and 
aged chesnuts fringe the heights, and an underwood of laurels, 
thorns, and sweet-briars mantle upon the undulating surface 
of the shores beneath, till we pass the mill and bridge of Cruise- 
town, where (supposing that we have come down in a boat, 
which is by far the best plan) we commit ourselves to the 
centre of the stream, and bestow an equal share of our atten- 
tion upon both banks. Here the river forms a number of 
sudden curves, each winding presenting us with a new picture 
more beautiful than its predecessor. The banks spring high 
and abrupt from the water's edge, so that in some places the 
massive trees, rising in piles of the most gorgeous foliage, ap- 
pear topling over us from their summits, and darken the deep 
smooth pools they overhang. Upon a summer's day an air of 
calm repose pervades this spot; the very songsters of the grove 
seem hushed in admiration, and unwilling to disturb the peace- 
ful thoughts which here gradually steal over the beholder. 
On the right the modern mansion of Beauparc peeps through the 
never-ending green of tall pines, sycamores, oaks, and elms. 
On the left the ivy-mantled walls of Castle Dexter raise them- 
selves above the dark plantation, contrasting the times of feu- 
dal rule and massive defensive architecture, with its light domes- 
tic neighbour of more modern date. The limestone rock, here 
twisted into a variety of curious contortions, breaks through 
the surface, and relieves the eye, almost satiated with the end- 
less variety both of colour and foliage. Through occasional 
openings we obtain glimpses of long vistas, formed by the over- 
hanging boughs, and terminated by glades of turf, on which 
the sun beams with unusual splendour. The river spreads 
out, and the sun again glances upon its smooth waters ; the 

hood of Broad Boyne Bridge, but, unless that now called on the Ordnance 
Map Tober Patrick be it, we are not aware of its site. 



CASTLE DEXTER. 



173 



massive perpendicular rock of Fennor, about which we could 
tell many a fairy legend and relate many a tale of love, rears 
aloft its giant form, with its fir-fringed summit and bold grey 
front, draped with festoons and long tendrils of dark green 
ivy; and then, as we float downward with the stream, enjoying 
beauties scarcely known and little noticed in this country, the 
modern castle of Slane suddenly bursts upon us, occupying 
a most commanding situation, and appearing, with its sur- 
rounding wooded hills, the back-ground or extreme distance 
of a picture framed by the elevated banks of the Boyne, which 
here spreads out in front of it into a noble sheet of water, for 
which there does not, at first view, seem any exit. 

To visit these different objects of interest in detail ; — here is 
the ruined fortress of Castle Dexter, from which the surround- 
ing townland of Carrickdexter probably takes its name. The 
ovens and huge fire- 
places in this castle ___======—— - 

attest the good living __jg§ B== : ~" IHlBlls^" 

of its early occupants ; 
but the windows are 
not so well preserved, 
neither were they ori- 
ginally so well made 
as those at Athlum- 
ney. Very little is 
known of the history 
of this beautifully 
situated castle, at 
least that was acces- 
sible to us through the ordinary sources of information. It is 
said by the people around to have been erected by one of the 
Flemings, the early lords of Slane, and to have been their ori- 
ginal residence. From its name, however, we should suppose 
it to have belonged, if it was not built, by one of the D'Exeter 
family, some of whom were located in Meath, although the 
great sept was in Connaught, where they assumed the Irish 
name of Mac Jordan. In the " Annales Hiberniae Jacobi Grace, 
Kilkenniensis," under the year 1312, we read that " Milo Ver- 
don married the daughter of Richard de Exoniis (Dexter) ;" 
and the inscription on the monumental wayside cross atNevins- 
town, already mentioned at page 157, assists to throw some 




174 



SLANE CASTLE. 



light on the history of the Meath branch of this family. The 
name is also mentioned (as a witness) in the Register of All- 
Hallows, Dublin, lately printed by our Archaeological Society. 
A story is told that a salmon-trap formerly existed in the 
river immediately adjoining Castle Dexter, and when a fish 
was caught its struggles touched a wire connected with a bell 
in the castle, which gave the cook notice of its capture. A 
similar tale is, however, told of several other castles and monas- 
teries standing by the brinks of rivers. 

Slane Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Conyngham, and 
memorable in modern times, from its being visited by King 
George IV., stands on a swelling bank of verdant green- 
sward, rising gradually from the river. It is a large cas- 
tellated mansion, with towers and embattled parapets, but 
not boasting much beauty of architectural design. It is prin- 
cipally the surrounding scenery, the combinations of sylvan 
beauty formed by its own extensive demesne, blending with 
that of Beauparc, the neighbouring woods of other seats, 
the charming associations awakened by the ancient ruins 
standing on the romantic shores of its noble river, and the 
highly cultivated landscape on all sides, which claim for Slane 
Castle the eulogiums of its modern describers. Leaving this 




modern residence of the lords of Slane, we drift onward, still 
approaching the northern bank, and land at the church or her- 
mitage of St. Ere, which stands within the demesne, upon the 



THE HERMITAGE OF ST. ERC. 



175 



shore immediately below the castle, embosomed within the 
dark shadows of a grove of ancient yews, one of the most ro- 
mantic rains of its date and style in Ireland. Considerable 
portions of this picturesque building still exist. The accom- 
panying engraving fathfully represents the doorway. 

It takes its name from 
Ere, " the sweet-spoken 
judge," the first Bishop of 
Slane, who was consecrated 
by St. Patrick, and died 
a. d. 514.* It was after- 
wards the retreat of Malachi 
and Donat O'Brien, two her- 
mits, who resided here in 
1512. Over the pointed 
door we find the fleur-de- 
lis, and upon the inner door- 
way some rose ornaments, 
rather unusual in Irish 
architecture. Within the 
little chapel is the tomb of 
the Earls of Drogheda, and 
upon the walk above the 
hermitage there lies a hand- 
some sculptured stone, with 
twelve figures upon it, evidently a portion of an ancient tomb, 
and well worthy the attentive examination of the antiquarian 
student. 

From the mixture of 
round and pointed arches, 
as well as the evident dif- 
ference in the styles of 
masonry, it is manifest 
that this building at St.Erc's was erected or remodelled at two 
different eras. 

* The Annals of the Four Masters say Bishop Ere died upon the 2nd No- 
vember, 512. " His age was four score years and ten when he departed. This 
Bishop Ere was judge to Patrick. It was for him Patrick composed this qua- 
train : 

'" Bishop Ere, — 

Everything he adjudged was just ; 
Every one that passes a just judgment, 
Shall receive the blessing of Bishop Ere' '' 





176 ST. EEC'S GOOSE EGGS. 

In the historical tale of the banquet of Dun na n-Gedh, a 
composition of the twelfth century, there is a curious reference 
to this place. King Domhnall, having completed his great 
fort, or house, determined, as was usual on such occasions, to 
give a feast, and for that purpose sent forth his stewards to 
collect every delicacy of the season, for, like many a modern 
Heliogabulus, " Domhnall did not deem it honourable that 
there should be in Erin a kind of food that should not be at 
that banquet." 

" And the collectors went forth throughout Meath, in search 
of the eggs, until they came to a small Duirtheach [hermitage}, 
in which was one woman with a black hood upon her head, 
and she praying to God. The king's people saw a flock of 
geese at the door of the Duirtheach ; they went into the house 
and found a vessel full of goose eggs. ' We have had great 
success,' said they, ' for should we search Erin, there could 
not be found more goose eggs together in one place than are 
here.' ' It will not be good success,' said the woman, ' and it 
will not redound to the happiness of the banquet to which this 
small quantity of provisions will be brought.' ' Why so?' 
said they. ' It is plain,' said the woman ; ' a wonder-working 
saint of God's people dwells here, namely, Bishop Ere, of 
Slaine,* and his custom is to remain immersed in the Boinn, 
up to his two arm-pits, from morning till evening, having his 
Psalter before him on the strand, constantly engaged in prayer; 
and his dinner every evening on returning hither is an egg 
and a half, and three sprigs of the cresse of the Boinn ; and 
it behoves you not to take away from him the small store of 
food which he has. But the proud people of the king made 
no reply to her, — for they were plebeians in the shape of 
heroes on this occasion, — and they carried away the property 



* " This is an anachronism, for Bishop Ere, of Slaine, who was contemporary 
with St. Patrick, died in the year 514 (Ussher's Primordia, p. 442), and this 
battle was fought in the year 638, that is 124 years after Erc's death ! The 
probability is, that the original composer of the stoiy had written Comharba 
[i. e. successor] of Ere, of Slaine ; but all the copies to which we have access 
at present agree in making the saint Ere himself." See " The Banquet of Dun 
na n-Gedh, and the Battle of Magh-Rath, an ancient historical Tale, now first 
published from a Manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, with 
Translation and Notes, by John O'Donovan, for the Irish Archaeological 
Society." 



THE BANQUET AT DUN NA N-GEDH. 177 

of the righteous man and saint, in despite of him [her]. But 
woe to him to whom this small quantity of food was brought, 
for a great evil sprang from it afterwards ; for Erin was not 
ODe night thenceforward in the enjoyment of peace, or tran- 
quillity, or without a desire of evil or injustice, for some time. 

" The holy patron, Bishop Ere, of Slaine, came to his house 
in the evening, and the woman told him how he was plundered. 
The righteous man then became wroth, and said : ' It will not 
be good luck to the person to whom this kind of food was 
brought ; and may the peace or welfare of Erin not result from 
the banquet to Avhich it was brought ; but may quarrels, con- 
tentions, and commotions be the consequence to her.' And 
he cursed the banquet as bitterly as he was able to curse it. 

" As the king's people were afterwards at the assembly, they 
saw a couple approaching them, namely, a woman and a man ; 
larger than the summit of a rock on a mountain was each 
member of their members ; sharper than a shaving knife the 
edge of their shins ; their heels and hams in front of them ; 
should a sackful of apples be thrown on their heads not one of 
them would fall to the ground, but would stick on the points 
of the strong, bristly hair which grew out of their heads ; 
blacker than the coal or darker than the smoke was each of 
their members; whiter than snow their eyes; a lock of the 
lower beard was carried round the back of the head; a lock of 
the upper beard descended so as to cover the knees ; the woman 
had whiskers, but the man was without whiskers. They car- 
ried a tub between them which was full of goose eggs. In this 
plight they saluted the king. ' WTiat is that ?' said the king. 
4 It is plain,' said they, ' the men of Erin are making a banquet 
for thee, and each brings what he can to that banquet, and our 
mite is the quantity of eggs we are carrying.' 'I am thankful 
for it,' said the king. They were conducted into the palace, 
and a dinner sufficient for a hundred was given to them of meat 
and ale. This the man consumed, and did not give any part 
of it to the woman. Another dinner sufficient for a hundred 
was given them, and the woman alone consumed it. They 
demanded more, and another dinner for a hundred was given 
them, and both of them together consumed it. ' Give us food,' 
said they, ' if you have it.' ' By our word we shall not,' said 
Casciabhach, the king's Eechtaire, ' till the men of Erin in 
general shall come to the feast.' The others then said, ' Evil 

N 



178 THE ECCLESIASTICAL RUINS AT SLANE. 

shall it be to you that we have partaken of the banquet first, 
for the men of Erin shall be quarrelsome at it, for we are of 
the people of Infernus.' And they predicted great evils to the 
multitudes, and afterwards rushed out, and vanished into 
nothing." This banquet was the cause of the celebrated Bat- 
tle of Magh Rath. 

Not far distant from the Hermitage was Lady Well, but it 
is now nearly obliterated; and in the wall of the pleasure- 
ground of the castle may be seen the carved effigy of an eccle- 
siastic, probably a bishop : and below, a little to the right of 
the bridge of Slane, stands the old church and ruined castle 
of Fennor, but they do not possess sufficient interest to require 
minute examination. 

Let us pass under the handsome gate of Slane demesne, 
through the neat little town adjoining, where, at its comfort- 
able hotel, we may enjoy as bright and generous a glass of claret, 
and receive as good cheer, as at any similar establishment with 
which we are acquainted ; and then climb the hill which rises 
immediately over the town. On the western brow of the hill 
stands a noble circular, entrenched rath, possibly the seat of the 
palace of the monarch from whom its present name is derived. 
We are now upon the wooded height which so frequently caught 
our eye as we passed down the Boyne, and upon the spot so 




often referred to in the foregoing descriptions, — Slane, the 
early residence and the burial-place of King Slanius (see page 
14). Ascending the hill, we stand beside a group of ruins, the 
remains of the church and monastery figured above. 



VIEW FROM THE HILL OF SLANE. 179 

Here, pilgrim, stop ; rest on yonder monumental slab, be- 
neath the shadow of that tall, ivy-mantled tower, the belfry 
of the cathedral — it once was gorgeous with the shrines of 
Fathers, and illumed by many a nickering taper, though now 
the hemlock fills its aisles, and the purple foxglove waves its 
lonely banneret. The ground whereon we stand is sacred, — 
consecrated by the foot-prints of our patron saint, hallowed by 
the dust of kings. Look abroad over the wide, undulating 
plains of Meath, or to the green hills of Louth : where, in the 
broad landscapes of Britain, find we a scene more fruitful and 
varied, or one more full of interesting, heart-stirring associa- 
tions ? Climb this tower and cast your eye along the river. 
Look from the tall, pillar-like form of the Yellow Steeple 
at Trim, which rises in the distance, to where yon bright line 
marks the meeting of the sea and sky below the Maiden Tower at 
Drogheda, and trace the clear blue waters of the Boyne, winding 
through this lovely, highly cultivated landscape, so rich in all 
that can charm the eye and awaken the imagination; take 
into view the hills of Skreen and Tara ; pass in review the 
woods of Hayes, Ardmulchan, Beauparc; look down into the 
green mounds and broad pastures of Slane; follow the Boyne 
below you, as it dances by each ford and rapid, to where 
the great pyramids of western Europe, Knowth, New Grange, 
and Dowth, rise on its left bank ; see you not the groves of 
Townley Hall and Old Bridge, marking the battle-field of 1690, 
with the ill-fated hill of Donore, where the sceptre passed for 
ever from the royal line of Stuart, obtruding its long- remem- 
bered tale of civil strife upon us? Duleek stands in the dis- 
tance. Beyond those hills that border Louth lie Monaster- 
boice, and Mellifont, the last resting-place of the faithless 
Bride of Brefney. Those steeples and turrets which rise in 
the lower distance were shattered by the balls of Cromwell ; 
and that knoll which juts above them is the Mill Mount of 
Drogheda. What a picture have we here, from this Eich- 
mond Hill of Irish scenery ! What an extensive page of 
our country's history does it unfold to us! What recollec- 
tions gush upon us as we stand on the abbey walls of Slane, 
and take in this noble prospect at a glance! The records 
and the footprints of two thousand years are all before us ; 
the solemn procession of the simple shepherd to the early 
Pagan mound; the rude slinger standing on the earthen cir- 



180 st. Patrick's arrival at slane. 

cle; the Druid fires, paling before the bright sun of Chris- 
tianity ; the cadence of the round tower's bell ; the matin and 
the vesper hymn swelling from the hermit's cell, or early mis- 
sionary church; the proud galleys and glancing swords of 
fierce northern hordes; the smoking ruins of church and 
tower; the shout of rival clans in civil feuds; the lances and 
banners of Norman soldiers; the moat, and fosse, and draw- 
bridge of the keep, still echoing back the strife of hostile 
ranks, — the native for his soil, the stranger for his hire; the 
ford defended, and the castle won; the pilgrim's cross, the 
stately abbey, and the baron's hall; in church, the stole 
ejected for the surplice; the town besieged, the city sacked; 
and then the ratttle, and the roar, and smoke of recent battle; 
— have, one and all, their epochs, ruins, sites, or history, legibly 
inscribed upon this picture. 

The early Irish name of Slane was Ferta-fear-Feig, the graves 
of the men of Feig,* and one of the first notices of it which our 
annals contain relates to a most remarkable epoch in the history 
of this country. We mentioned that Patrick landed at the 
Boyne's mouth ; he afterwards passed up that river's bank a 
day's journey into Meath. Although some months in the island, 
it is not said that he made any extensive or remarkable conver- 
sions to Christianity till the Easter of 433, on the Thursday night 
before which we read the following account of him, as collected 
from the various Lives of St. Patrick by Ussher and Colgan, 
and thus condensed by the learned Dr. Lanigan : — " Having 
got a tent pitched there (Slane), he made preparations for ce- 
lebrating the festival of Easter, and accordingly lighted the 
paschal fire about nightfall. It happened that, at this very 
time, the King Loeghaire and the assembled princes were cele- 
brating a religious festival, of which fire-worship formed a 
part. There was a standing law that, at the time of this fes- 

* Where these graves are has not yet been determined ; perhaps they formed 
part of the great neighbouring cemetery of Brugh-na-Boinne, for in an ancient 
MS. in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, called " Irish Triads," enume- 
rating three of each of the most remarkable objects in Erin, — as the three 
mountains, the three cataracts, the three plains, and the three rivers, — it is 
stated that the three darkest caves of Ireland are Uaimh Cruachna, i. e. the 
cave of Croghan ; Uaimh Slaine, i. e. the cave or crypt of Slane ; and Dearc 
Fearna, i. e. the cave of Dunmore, near Kilkenny. See also the Annals of the 
Four Masters, A. D. 928, and the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. i. p. 73. Can 
New Grange be the cave of Slane ? 



THE CLOICTHEACH OF SLANE. 181 

tival, no fire should be kindled for a considerable distance all 
around, until after a great fire should be lighted in the royal 
palace of Temoria, or Tarah. St. Patrick's iire was, however, 
lighted before that of the palace, and, being seen from the 
heights of Tarah, excited great astonishment. On the king's 
inquiring what could be the cause of it, and who could thus 
dare to infringe the law, the magi told him that it was neces- 
sary to have that fire extinguished immediately, whereas, if 
allowed to remain, it would get the better of their fires, and 
bring about the downfall of his kingdom. Loeghaire, enraged 
and troubled on getting this information, set out for Slane 
with a considerable number of followers, and one or two of the 
principal magi, for the purpose of exterminating those violaters 
of the law. When arrived within some distance from where 
the tent was, they sat down, and St. Patrick was sent for, with 
an order to appear before the king, and give an account of his 
conduct. It was arranged that no one should show him any 
mark of respect, or rise up to receive him ; but, on his pre- 
senting himself before them, Horc, son of Dego, disobeyed the 
injunction, and, standing up, saluted him, and, receiving the 
saint's blessing, became a believer." 

The subsequent preaching of Patrick at Tara, and its results, 
are set forth in the various Lives of the saint. A nobler spot 
on which to raise the beacon of Christianity could not possibly 
be chosen. The itinerary of St. Patrick up the Boyne might 
form a guide to the ancient topography of the river. 

A cloictheach, or round tower, formerly existed at Slane, 
and probably stood on the site of the present ecclesiastical ruins, 
where it must have formed an object of surpassing beauty. It 
was destroyed by the Danes of Dublin, about the middle of the 
tenth century. It is alluded to in a great many of the ancient 
records: the following is, perhaps, the fullest, and at the same 
time the most intelligible notice of it to the popular reader : 
" A. D. 948. The cloictheach of Slane was burned by the 
Danes, with its full of reliques and good people, with Caoine- 
chair, reader of Slane, and the crosier of the patron saint, and 
a bell, the best of bells?'' An abbey of canons regular was founded 
here at a very early date, and Archdall (who was rector of 
Slane) informs us, on the authority of Mezeray's History of 
France, that it " was remarkable for being many years the 
residence of a royal prince; for we find that, in the year 653, 



182 ANCIENT TOMB AT SLANE. 

Dagobert, King of Austrasia (part of France), when at the 
age of only seven years, was taken by Grimoald, mayor of the 
palace, and by his direction he was shorn a monk, " rendered 
unfit to hold the reins of government, and banished into Ire- 
land. From oral information we learn that he was received 
into this abbey, where he obtained an education proper for the 
enjoyment of a throne; he continued here during the space of 
twenty years, when he was recalled into France, and replaced 
in his government." By what means the author of the Mo- 
nasticon obtained this latter information, or what oral tradi- 
tions, referring back for such a length of time, should be 
received as history, we cannot now pause to discuss. Among 
the several tombs around the abbey the stranger's attention is 
pointed to one, said to bear the fleur-de-lis upon it, and this, 
" from oral information, we learn" is the tomb of the son of the 
King of France ! — but any one accustomed to examine such 
objects, at once recognises it as the tomb of an Irish ecclesiastic, 
being figured with a cross, each arm of which ends in a leaf- 
like ornament, and also having upon it a chalice ; and beneath 
the foot of the cross the name W. J. Kir wan may still be deci- 
phered. Several other curious old tombs may be observed 
here; one, in particular, to the south of the church, is of a re- 
markable form, and, in all probability, of greater antiquity than 
any Christian tomb in Ireland, except a similarly constructed 
one which we are given to understand exists in the churchyard 
of Saul, near Downpatrick, 
and that to which we already 
referred at Donaghpatrick, 
a fragment of which occu- 
pies a precisely similar posi- 
tion with respect to the ad- 
joining church there. This 
tomb at Slane, of which the 
accompanying is a sketch, 
consists of two large gable- 
shaped flags, about three 
feet of which rise above " HANU %^i)7 
the ground, and separated 

by an interval of about six feet. Each of these stones is grooved 
exactly like the gable of a house, the grooves appearing to be 
intended for the reception of the ends of horizontally inclined 




THE CHURCH OF SLANE. ] 83 

flags which formed the roof. That this is a tomb of great anti- 
quity, and to which peculiar reverence attaches, may be learned 
from the fact that, at all the funerals of the lower orders here, 
the people, in carrying the corpse round the graveyard, ac- 
cording to ancient custom, invariably lay it down for a short 
time at this spot. Within the enclosure of the burial-ground, 
and to the north of the abbey, is the well of Tober Patrick, 
formerly in great repute, and which the people say not only 
rises and falls with the floods of the Boyne, but sometimes has 
bits of bulrushes floating in it. This rising and falling of the 
water in this holy well is not peculiar ; several similar circum- 
stances are related of other holy fountains. (See Nennius). 

The noble pointed window, in the highly decorated style 
denominated flamboyant, over the round arched doorway in the 
western side of the tower, together with the many rare exam- 
ples of architecture, of great elegance of design, both in the 
ruins of the church and the adjoining monastery, not forget- 
ting the prim face of a nun, sculptured in a stone, built up in 
the wall which now encloses the grave-yard, and the wide 
range of prospect obtained by climbing the tower itself, are 
"veil worthy a morning's visit to Slane. The church is some- 
what more than 100 feet long by eighteen wide. Within it, 
among the nettles and rank weeds, may, if carefully looked 
for, be found the ancient font. It is unornamented, octagon 
in shape, and the basin, as usual, twenty- two inches in diame- 
ter. The ruins of the monastery, which are very extensive, 
are quite detached from the church, and to the north-east of it. 

In the park of Slane were found, some years ago, those brass 
antiquities now in the Museum of the Academy, believed to 
be musical instruments, and called crotalins by Walker and 
Ledwich, but which were probably fastenings or clasps. By 
tlie shores of the deep meadows through which the Boyne sweeps 
here, the curragh of wicker-work, covered with horsehide, may 
still be seen. We might stop our course to describe its construc- 
tion, or speculate on the circumstance of this ancient relic of the 
rude early navigators of this river still remaining, in the very 
heart of civilization; and step by step might we thus follow the 
river's windings from the bridge of Slane to the sea, redeeming, 
at every turn, the boast we made of presenting our readers with 
a series of tableaux of the most interesting stream in Ireland, 
but that more inviting objects, about two miles lower down, 
attract attention. 



184 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ROYAL CEMETERY OF BRUGH NA BOINNE. 

THE SENCHAS-NA-RELEC— BRUGH NA BOINNE.— THE INTERMENT OF KING CORMAC.— ROS NA 
RIGH. — KNOWTH. — THE TUMULUS OF NEW GRANGE ; ITS ENTRANCE, PASSAGE, AND CHAMBER. — 
CRYPTS IN THE INTERIOR.— ANTIQUE CARVINGS.— ANCIENT HISTORY OF THIS MOUND.— DOWTH. 
—RECENT EXAMINATION OF ITS INTERIOR.— DESCRIPTION OF ITS CHAMBERS AND PASSAGES.— 
ROSSAN.— CJLOGHLEA.— NETTERVILLE. 

There were several royal burial places in Ireland in early 
Pagan times, eight of which have been enumerated. In the 
Senchas-na-Relec, or the History of the Cemeteries, contained 
in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre, a work compiled at Clonmacnoise, 
in the twelfth century, we learn that among these chief ceme- 
teries were Cruachan, now Rathcroghan, in the county of Ros- 
common, where there are still considerable remains ; Tailltean, 
Teamhair Erann, or Tara, and Oenach Colmain ; so from these 
it would appear that the monarchs were sometimes buried iti 
the immediate vicinity, or perhaps within the enclosure of 
their dwellings, like King Loeghaire, who was contemporary 
with St. Patrick, and who was interred in a standing position, 
with his weapons and war dress upon him, in the external 
rampart of the rath which bears his name at Tara, with his 
face turned southward, towards his enemies, the Leinstermen. 
But by far the most celebrated and extensive of all the Irish 
cemeteries was that denominated Brugh, or Brugh na Boinne, 
the Burgum Boinne, the fort or town of the Boyne, of which 
an account is given, not only in the work already alluded to, 
but in another Irish manuscript of great antiquity, the Dinr- 
seanchus, a tract contained in the great Speckled Book of 
Ballymote; and to this place references continually occur in 
almost every ancient Irish manuscript. This was the great 
royal cemetery of the Kings of Tara ; and from an examina- 
tion of the various authorities which describe it, as well as 
the monuments themselves which still exist, it is manifest that 
Brugh na Boinne was no other than the assemblage of mounds, 
caves, pillar-stones, and other sepulchral monuments, forming 
the great necropolis which extends along the left or northern 
bank of the river, from Slane to Netterville. " The nobles of 



IRISH ROYAL CEMETERIES. 185 

the Tuatha De Danaan were used to bury at Brugh (i. e. the 
Dagda, with his three sons, also Lughaidh, and Oe, and Ollam, 
and Ogma, and Etan, the poetess, and Corpre, the son of Etan), 
and Cremthann followed them, because his wife, Nar, was of 
the Tuatha Dea, and it was she solicited that he should keep 
Brugh as a burial-place for himself and his descendants, and 
this was the cause they did not bury at Cruachan."* The La~ 
genians (Leinstermen) of the race of Cathair, were buried at 
Oenach Ailbhe; the Clann Dedad, at Tara; the men of Munster 
at Oenach Culi and Colmain; and the Connaughtmen at the 
Eelec na Eiogh, at Eathcroghan. The monuments at Brugh 
are enumerated as " The bed of the Dagda first; the two paps 
of the Morrigan, at the place where Cermud Milbhel, son of 
the Dagda, was born ; the grave of Boinn, the wife of Nech- 

tan; the mound of Tresc; the grave of Esclam, the 

Dagda's brehon, which is called Fert Patric at this day ; [the 
monuments of] Cirr and Cuirrell, wives of the Dagda; these 
two hillocks; the grave of Aedh Luirgnech, son of the Dagda; 
the cave of Buailcc Bee ; the monument of Cellach, son of Mael- 
cobha ; the monument of the seed of Cinaedh, son of Irgalach ; 
the prison of Liath-Macha; the glen of the Mata, i. e. the Mon- 
ster, as some assert; the pillar-stone of Buidi, the son of 
Muiredh, where his head is interred ; the stone of Benn, i. e. 
the monument on which the monster, Mata, was killed; it 
had one hundred and forty legs and four heads ; the Mound of 
the bones ; the Caisel (stone enclosure) of Aengus, &c. &c." 

From this description we learn somewhat of the nature of 
an ancient Irish Pagan cemetery, and of the kind of remains 
which we are to expect wherever any traces of such still exist, 
and we shall see presently that this in the neighbourhood which 
we are now investigating fully answers the description. In 
the " Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach," 
given in the Book of Lecan, lately translated by Mr. O'Dono- 
van for the Irish Archaeological Society, we have some account 
of the Eeleg na Eiogh, or cemetery of the kings of Croghan in 
Connaught, in the description of the death and interment of 
Dathi, whose body, it is said, was carried to battle by Amhal- 
gaidh, as a stimulant to the warriors of his clan and a terror to 
his enemies. The passage runs thus : " Dungal, Flannghus, 

* See Translation of the Senchas-na-Relec, in Petrie's Round Towers, p. 101. 



186 SEPULCHRES OF THE IRISH KINGS. 

Tuathal, and Tomaltach, were the four servants of trust who 
carried with them the body of the king. The body of Dathi 
was brought to Croghan, where the kings of the race of Here- 
mon were for the most part interred, where to this day (1666) 
the cairrthe dhearg, red pillar-stone, remains as a monument 
over his grave, near Eathcroghan. That the body of Dathi 
is interred in the middle of Aonach na Cruaghna is attested by 
Torna Eigeas, in his poem pointing out the burial-place of the 
kings of the race of Heremon to the men of Erin." — p. 25. 
From this we learn not only the use of the pillar-stone, about 
which, as well as the cromlech (generally but erroneously 
called a Druid's altar), speculative and imaginary antiquaries 
— who are usually unacquainted with the Irish language or 
Irish history — have written so much, and with such an as- 
sumption of learning, but also the fact that the graves and 
monuments of Irish chieftains were well known 200 years ago. 
The cemetery is still to be recognised among the great Eaths 
at Croghan, and we have often seen the pillar-stone alluded to, 
where it stood in a field near the cross-roads of that place, and 
was used as a " scratching stone" by the fat cattle that grazed 
among the raths and upon the fertile plains of Eathcroghan. 

Did our space permit, or if the object for which this book 
is written allowed it, we could, from abundant materials now 
at hand, record the modes of interment as well as the exact 
burial-places of many of the Pagan Irish chieftains and warriors, 
together with their mode of death, and many other most inte- 
resting particulars connected with this subject. It is related 
that Caeilte, the foster-brother and one of the generals of Finn 
Mac Cumhail, killed Fothadh Airgthech in the battle of 01- 
larba, near the Larne, in the county of Antrim, A. D. 285, 
with a spear, the iron head of which passed through him, and 
was left buried in the earth. The grave of the vanquished is 
afterwards recognised by Caeilte, who, it would appear, threw 
the spear or dart at his enemy from a rock in the neighbour- 
hood. He thus describes the locality : " The round stone from 
which I made that shot will be found, and east of it will be 
found the iron head of the spear buried in the earth ; and the 
ulidh [cairn] of Fothadh Airgthech will be found a short dis- 
tance to the east of it. There is a chest of stone about him in 
the earth. There are two rings of silver and his ounne doats 
[bracelets!] and his torque of silver on his chest, and there is 



THE INTERMENT OF KING CORMAC MAC ART. 187 

a pillar-stone at his earn, and an Ogum is [inscribed] on the 
end of the pillar-stone which is in the earth, and what is in it 
is — ' Eochaid Airgthech here.' "* 

We are now in a position to inquire after the site of Brugh 
na Boinne, the royal cemetery of " the Fort of the Boyne." 
About two miles below Slane the river becomes fordable, and 
several islands break the stream. Here, upon the left, or south- 
western bank of the river, is the place called Eossnaree, the 
ancient Ros-na-Eigh, or the Wood of the Kings, and upon the 
opposite swelling bank of the river occur a series of raised 
mounds, raths, forts, caves, circles, and pillar-stones, bearing 
all the evidence of ancient Pagan sepulchral monuments, 
which, there can now be little doubt, was the Irish Memphis, 
or city of tombs, already so frequently alluded to. The follow- 
ing reference from the History of the Cemeteries, already re- 
ferred to, will, we think, set the question at rest, and fix the 
site of Brugh-na-Boinne here, and not, as has been conjectured, 
at Stackallan. We already mentioned, in describing Clady, 
that King Cormac Mac Art died at the house of Cletty. His 
burial is thus detailed: "And he (Cormac), told his people not 
to bury him at Brugh (because it was a cemetery of idolaters) ; 
for he did not worship the same God as any of those interred 
at Brugh ; but to bury him at Ros-na-Eigh, with his face to 
the east. He afterwards died, and his servants of trust held 
a council, and came to the resolution of burying him at Brugh, 
the place where the kings of Tara, his predecessors, were 
buried. The body of the king was afterwards thrice raised 
to be carried to Brugh, but the Boyne swelled up thrice, so 
as that they could not come ; so that they observed that it was 
violating the judgment of a prince to break through this tes- 
tament of the king ; and they afterwards dug his grave at 
Eos-na-Eigh, as he himself had ordered." And again, " The 
nobles of the Tuatha De Danaan were used to bury at Brugh." 

From this it is evident that the place where the servants 
of Cormac endeavoured to cross the river with his body was 

* See Petrie's Bound Towers, p. 108. See also the Annals of the Four 
Masters, A. D. 285, with O'Donovan's note thereon. From the foregoing quo- 
tation it mould appear that Ogham inscriptions were used in the third century. 
With the exception of some markings upon the edges of one of the stones re- 
cently discovered at Dowth, which look like Ogham characters, we do not find 
inscriptions of this nature along the Boyne or Blackwater. 



188 BRUGH-NA-BOINNE. 

at the ford of Ros-na-Righ, in order to inter it in the ceme- 
tery of Brugh-na-Boinne. The Dagda, whose monument is 
enumerated in this cemetery, was a king of the Tuatha De 
Danaans, named Eachaidh Ollathair, whose reign for eighty 
years, commenced (it is said in the annals) at the year of the 
world 3371. He was styled Daghda-mor, the "Great Good 
Fire," from his military ardour; and his monument in the ce- 
metery of the Boyne was called Sidh-an-Brogha. May it not be 
one of those great sepulchral mounds now in sight, which we 
are about to describe? Several of the other personages whose 
monuments are enumerated as being in this great cemetery 
have been already mentioned. 

About a mile and a half below Slane, and extending along 
the northern bank of the river, we meet the great Irish ceme- 
tery to which we have just alluded. This consists chiefly of 
a number of sepulchral mounds, or barrows, varying in mag- 
nitude, and occupying a space of about a mile in breadth, north- 
ward of the river's bank, and stretching from Knowth to the 
confines of Netterville demesne, over a distance of nearly three 
miles. In this space we find the remains of no less than 
seventeen sepulchral barrows, some of these — the smaller ones 
— situated in the green pasture lands, which form the imme- 
diate valley of the Boyne, while the three of greatest magni- 
tude are placed on the summit of the ridge which bounds 
this valley upon the left bank, and a few others are to be found 
at Monk-Newtown, beyond the brow of the hill, towards Louth ; 
making upwards of twenty in all, including the remains at 
Cloghalea, and the great moat on which the fortress of Drogheda 
now stands, and known in the Annals as the mound of the 
grave of the Wife of Gobhan. This latter, however, is on the 
right or southern bank. 

The three great mounds of Knowth, New Grange, and 
Dowth, principally demand attention, not only on account of 
their magnitude, but because one of them has remained open 
for some years, and a third has been lately examined. Each of 
these is situated within view of the other, and at about a 
mile distant, and consists, at first sight, of a great natural 
hill, rising abruptly from the surrounding surface ; and this 
idea is rather strengthened by the circumstance of one of these 
having become covered with wood, and another having until 
lately borne on its summit a modern stone building. An eye 



NEW GRANGE. 189 

practised to the forms of ancient structures at once recognises 
these vast pyramids as the work of man, and a closer inspection 
soon sets this point at rest. To follow in detail these magnificent 
Pagan monuments — for such they are — as they present them- 
selves, in our downward course, we first meet with Knowth, 
an abrupt, hemispherical mound, with rather a flattened top, 
rising out of the sloping hill of the townland from which it 
takes its name. Some enormous masses of stone, arranged in 
a circular manner round its base, tell us, however, that it is 
evidently the work of design ; and some excavations made into 
one of its sides show that it consists of an enormous cairn of 
small stones, covered with rich greensward, occupying in ex- 
tent of surface about an acre, and rising to a height of nearly 
eighty feet. As far as we can judge by external appearances, 
although history is against us, it appears to be as yet unin- 
vestigated ; but as there are no means of access to its interior, 
we can only speculate as to its use, and the mode of its con- 
struction, from an examination of similar structures in this 
vicinity. We therefore pass on to the next monument, that 
of New Grange, of which the accompanying illustration, taken 
from the road adjoining, affords a tolerably correct idea. 




Like that just described, it consists of an enormous cairn or 
hill of small stones, calculated at 180,000 tons weight, occu- 
pying the summit of one of the natural undulating slopes 
which enclose the valley of the Boyne upon the north. It is 
said to cover nearly two acres, and is 400 paces in circum- 



190 



PILLAR-STONES AROUND NEW GRANGE. 



ference, and now about eighty feet higher than the adjoining 
natural surface. Various excavations made into its sides, and 
upon its summit, at different times, in order to supply mate- 
rials for building and road-making, have assisted to lessen its 
original height, and also to destroy the beauty of its outline ; 
but this defect has been obviated in part by a plantation, 
chiefly of hazel, which has grown over its surface. 

A few yards from the outer circle of the mound, there ap- 
pears to have stood originally a circle of enormous detached 
blocks of stone, placed at intervals of about ten yards from 
each other. Ten of these, three of which are here shown, 




still exist on the south-eastern side. Such is the present ap- 
pearance of this stupendous relic of ancient Pagan times, pro- 
bably one of the oldest Celtic monuments in the world, which 
has elicited the wonder, and called forth the admiration of all 
who have visited it, and has engaged the attention of nearly 
every distinguished antiquary, not only of the British Isles, 
but of Europe generally ; which, though little known to our 
countrymen, notwithstanding that it is within two hours' 
drive of Dublin, has attracted thither pilgrims from every 
land. It is said that a large pillar- stone, or stele, originally stood 
upon its summit. Before we speculate upon the date or origin, 
or offer any conjectures as to the uses of this vast cairn, 
we will -conduct our readers into the interior, and point out 



llhwyd's description of it in 1699. 191 

the objects within most worthy of attention. This mound 
is hollow; it contains a large chamber, formed by stones of 
enormous magnitude, and is accessible through a narrow 
passage, also formed of stones of great size, placed together 
without mortar or cement; and, considering their bulk and 
the positions they occupy, exciting our astonishment how 
such Cyclopean masonry could have been erected by a people 
who were, in all probability, unacquainted with those me- 
chanical powers so necessary in the erection of modern build- 
ings. Moreover, although some of the stones, both within 
and without this tumulus, bear marks of being water- worn, 
and were probably lifted from the bed of the Boyne, others 
belong to a class of rock not found in the neighbourhood at 
all ; some are basaltic, and others must have been transported 
here from the Mourne mountains. 

When this opening was first discovered it is now difficult 
to say. Sir Thomas Molyneux, who is generally, but erro- 
neously, supposed to have first described this monument, states 
that the opening was accidentally discovered, by removing 
some of the stones to make a pavement in the neighbourhood. 
The earliest describer of New Grange was Edward Llhwyd, 
the Welsh antiquary, and keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, 
in Oxford, who, in a letter, dated Sligo, 12 th March, 1699, 
and published by Eowlands, in his " Mona Antiqua Restau- 
rata," gave the following account of it, which we quote, the 
more particularly as he evidently had examined it carefully, 
and in order that its present state may be compared with its 
condition 150 years ago.* " I also met with one monument in 
this kingdom, very singular ; it stands at a place called New 
Grange, near Drogheda, and is a mount, or barrow, of very 



* Although the Mo?ia Antiqua Restaurata was published in Dublin, in 1723, 
the letter bears the date which we have mentioned above. In " the collection 
of such papers as were communicated to the Eoyal Society, referring to some 
curiosities in Ireland," we find a paraphrase of Mr. Llhwyd's Essay, printed 
here in 1726, but much less full, or explicit, than the original. Molyneux's 
account was printed in his Discourse concerning Danish Mounds, Forts, and 
Towers in Ireland, first published in 1725. It is, therefore, evident that the 
original describer was Llhwyd. See also Philosophical Transactions, vol. v. 
p. 694 ; Governor Pownal's Description in Archaeologia II. ; Higgins's Celtic 
Druids ; Miss Beaufort's Essay, in Transactions of the Eoyal Irish Academy ; 
Petrie in Irish Pennv Journal : Sir E C. Hoar's Tour in Ireland, &c. &c. * 



192 



THE ENTRANCE OF NEW GRANGE. 



considerable height, encompassed with vast stones, pitched on 
end, round the bottom of it, and having another, lesser, stand- 
ing on the top." When we first visited New Grange, some twelve 
years ago, the entrance was greatly obscured by brambles, 
and a heap of loose stones which had ravelled out from the ad- 
joining mound. This entrance, which is nearly square, and 
formed by large flags, the continuation of the stone passage 
already alluded to, is now at a considerable distance from the 
original outer circle of the mound, and consequently the pas- 
sage is at present much shorter than it was originally, if, in- 
deed, it ever extended so far as the outer circle. A few years 
ago, a gentleman, then residing in the neighbourhood, cleared 
away the stones and rubbish which obscured the mouth of the 
cave, and brought to light a very remarkably carved stone, 
which now slopes outwards from the entrance. This we thought 
at the time was quite a discovery, inasmuch as none of the 




modern writers had noticed it. The Welsh antiquary, how- 
ever, thus describes it: — " The entry into this cave is at bot- 
tom, and before it we found a great flat stone, like a large 



CARVED STONES AT THE ENTRANCE. 



193 



tomb-stone, placed edgeways, having on the outside certain 
barbarous carvings, like snakes encircled, but without heads." 

This stone, so beautifully carved in spirals and volutes, as 
shown in the graphic illustration upon the opposite page, is 
slighty convex, from above downwards; it measures ten feet 
in length, and is about eighteen inches thick. What its ori- 
ginal use was, — where its original position in this mound, — 
whether its carvings exhibit the same handiwork and design 
as those sculptured stones in the interior, and whether this 
beautiful slab did not belong to some other building of ante- 
rior date, — are questions worthy of consideration, but which we 
have not space to discuss. 

At the same time that this remarkable micaceous slab, which 
is of a greenish colour, and quite different from the other stones 
in the vicinity, was exposed, a few years ago, the edge of ano- 
ther very curious, and most exquisitely carved stone, was found 
projecting from the mound, a short distance above and within 
the line of the present entrance. That figured beneath repre- 
sents a portion of the carved edge of this lintel, which projects 
horizontally above the entrance. 




This stone, of which we can only perceive the edge, is five 
feet eight inches long ; its sculpture, both in design and exe- 
cution, far exceeds any of the rude carvings which are figured, 
apparently at random, upon the stones found within the cave ; 
and as it never could have been intended to be concealed from 
view, it is most probable that it decorates the entrance into 
some other chamber, which further examination may yet dis- 
close. The largest of the Egyptian pyramids contains several 
chambers, superincumbent upon the great sepulchral vault in 
which the sarcophagus was placed. This sculptured stone is of 

o 



194 



THE PASSAGE. 



the same composition — a micaceous slate — as the great spirally 
carved slab beneath, and is not found at all in this neigh- 
bourhood ; nor, indeed, are any of the great stones of the pas- 
sage or the chamber of a rock found in the vicinity, while the 
small broken stones, which form the great bulk of the mound, 
were evidently gathered around. 

We now enter the passage which faces the Boyne; it runs 
very nearly north and south, and measures sixty-three feet 
in length; it is formed of twenty- one upright stones upon 
the right side, and twenty-two on the left, and is roofed with 
flags of immense length, resting in some points upon the up- 
right side-stones, but in other places chiefly supported by ma- 
sonry external to them ; one of these is seventeen feet long 
and six broad. The general height of the passage, for about 
three-fourths of its length, is about six feet: but from the ac- 
cumulation of earth towards the entrance, it is scarcely so 
much at present. It then rises suddenly, and again, within 
seventeen feet of the chamber, it rises so as to slope gradually 
into its roof; and the stones of which this portion is com- 
posed are of gigantic size, many of them eight and ten feet high. 
Its average breadth is about three feet ; but some of the side 
stones having fallen inwards, so as almost to touch ; one requires 
to creep on all-fours to pass this 
point. Most of these side stones 
are remarkably smooth, even on 
parts where the rubbing of a cen- 
tury and a half could not have 
produced this polish, and appear 
to have been long exposed to 
the action of water or the atmos- 
phere. Some have smooth trans- 
verse indentations, as represent- 
ed by this drawing; and very 
many of the stones throughout 
this building, as well as others 
used for like purposes in the 
neighbourhood, have small soc- 
kets, or mortices, cut near or 
have an example before us. 

made for the insertion of wedges, either to split the stone, or 
to lift it. 




in their 
These appear 



es, of which we 
to have been 



THE CRYPTS AND BASINS. 



195 



The passage leads to a large dome- roofed chamber. As 
all is perfect darkness within this cavern, it is necessary to 
illuminate it in order to form any just idea of its figure or 
extent. When about half lighted up, and we begin to perceive 
the size and character of this great hive-shaped dome, and its 
surrounding crypts, formed by stones of such immense size, 
half revealed to us by the uncertain light of our tapers, 
an air of mystery steals over the senses, — a religious awe per- 
vades the place; and while we do not put any faith in the 
wild fancies of those antiquaries of the last century, who would 
make the world believe that this was a great Druid temple, 
an Antrum Jfythrce, in which the sacred rites of Paganism, 




with its human sacrifices, were enacted, we wonder less at the 
flight which their imaginations have taken. This cavern is 
nearly circular, with three offsets, or recesses, from it, — one 
opposite the entrance on the north, and one on each side, east 
and west, so that the ground plan, including the passage, accu- 
rately represents the figure of a cross. 

02 



196 THE GREAT CHAMBER. 

The wood-cut on the last page, from a rough sketch by 
Mr. Connolly, gives by far the truest idea of one of these 
crypts, which we have yet seen. It shows the right or east- 
ern recess, eight feet deep, nine high, and seven broad; it is 
slightly narrowed at the entrance. 

The basement of the great chamber, to about the height of 
ten feet, is formed of a circle of eleven upright stones, partially 
sunk in the ground, placed on edge, with their flat surfaces 
facing inwards, and forming the sides of the cavern. From 
this course springs the dome, formed by stones somewhat less 
in size, placed horizontally on the flat, with the edges present- 
ed towards the interior; and by each layer projecting slightly 
within that placed beneath, they thus, by decreasing the cir- 
cle, form a dome, without an arch, and the whole is closed at 
top, by one large slab : the stability of the mass is preserved 
by the pressure of the surrounding material. 

This form of roofing, which evidently preceded a knowledge 
of the principle of the arch, is to be found in many of our early 
buildings, — generally Pagan, and chiefly sepulchral, in this coun- 
try, — in the interiors of some of the duns or raths, and in very 
early Christian oratories ; and not only in Ireland, but in Egypt, 
Greece, and Asia Minor, in one of the pyramids of Sackara, 
as well as in the remains of a temple at Telmessus. Pococke 
had observed a similar structure in the pyramid of Dashour, 
called by the Arab name of Elkebere-el-J3arieh ; and all the 
visiters to the Cyclopean- walled Mycena? are well acquainted 
with the appearance of the great cavern, known by tradition 
as the tomb of Agamemnon, and believed by some antiquaries 
to have been the treasury of Atreus ; between which and New 
Grange comparisons have often been made; their resemblance, 
however, consists in the principle on which the dome is con- 
structed. That remnant of the early Hellenic people was 
formed by an excavation scooped out of the side of a natural 
hill; the gallery which leads to it does not appear ever to 
have been covered in ; the sides of the dome spring directly 
from the foundation, like that at Clady, and not from a row 
or circle of upright pillars. The interior is perfectly smooth, 
and was originally covered over with plates of brass; some of 
the nails which fastened them even yet remain; but these 
latter circumstances merely show a greater perfection in art 
among the early Greeks, — the architectural principle perhaps is 



CARVINGS ON THE INTERIOR. 



197 



the same in both. The ground plan of the great Boyne mo- 
nument also finds its analogue in the Orient; at Tyre and at 
Alexandria we find tombs carved out of the solid rock, of pre- 
cisely the same cruciform shape, having three minor excava- 
tions projecting from the several chambers. But while we 
thus allow ourselves to draw upon our recollections of other 
lands, we fear our readers, and the visiters to New Grange, for 
whose use in particular we write, may require some further 
information as to the measurements, construction, and hiero- 
glyphics of this remarkable monument. The top of the dome 
is nineteen feet six inches from the floor, which is now covered 
with loose stones and rubbish. From the entrance to the wall 
of the chamber opposite measures eighteen feet ; and between 
the extremities of the right and left crypts, twenty-two feet. 
Each of the side chambers is nearly square, their sides being 
formed of large oblong blocks of stone; but they are not all of 
the same size ; that on the right of the entrance, the eastern, 
is very much larger than either of the others, and is also the 
most enriched with those rude carvings, volutes, lozenges, zig- 
zags, and spiral lines, cut into the stones, and in some instances 
standing out in relief, to which we alluded in describing the 
passage. 

In order to afford our readers some idea of these curious 
markings, we have introduced the accompanying illustrations. 

Upon a careful exami- 
nation of the spiral carv- 
ings, we find them nearly 
all formed of a double coil, 
commencing with a loop, 
and, in most instances, 
having seven turns. — 
Many of these spirals or 
scrolls look like the first 
drawings or markings for 
the subsequent engraving 
in relief, such as we find 
in the finished work of the 
great flag at the entrance. 

The first wood-cut on the next page shows the project- 
ing edge of the top stone in the southern wall of the great 
right hand recess. The lozenges, six in number, are cut in, 




198 



CARVINGS ON THE INTERIOR. 



and are about three-quarters of an inch deep. Another speci- 
men of this form of decoration may be perceived on the hori- 




zontal slab at the meeting of the passage with the roof. A 
few of those have carvings upon them of spirals, coils, and 
zig-zag lines, cut, about half an inch in depth, by some sharp 
tool. 

Here again is a portion 
of the device found upon 
the roof of the eastern re- 
cess, carved upon a great 
flag, twelve feet in length, 
which spans the entire 
breadth of the crypt. 
Upon the back of the 
same chamber we find, 
and have represented in 
the first wood engraving 
on the opposite page, the 
carving which is to be 
seen on a projecting ledge, 

which juts out from the back wall like a second roof. These 
" scribings" appear to have been done with a tool like the pick 
used in roughening mill-stones. 

The chamber opposite the entrance affords, at first view, 




CARVINGS ON THE INTERIOR. 



199 



but few specimens of this curious scroll-work. But that upon 
the left (the western), which is by far the shallowest, presents 







us, besides some of the coil-marks, with two remarkable ex- 
amples of the carving, cut into its right-hand jamb, totally 
different in form from all the others. 

This, which we find low 
down upon the side of the 
stone facing the crypt, dif- 
fers from all the rest, and 
has excited much mystical 
speculation among the fol- 
lowers of General Vallan- 
cey, who supposed it to be 
an undoubted piece of writ- 
ing ; but what the language 
is, or what tale it tells, 
they had not made up their 
minds; and as that school 
has now become nearly ex- 
tinct, we fear the matter is not likely to be much further 
investigated at present. It is of a piece with Vallancey's spe- 
culation about the name New Grange (which is evidently 
of English introduction) having any reference to Grian, the 
sun, &c. 

The following very remarkable circumstance struck us while 
investigating this ancient structure of New Grange, some years 
ago. We found that those carvings not only covered portions 
of the stones exposed to view, but extended over those surfaces 




P| 



200 



CARVINGS ON THE INTERIOR. 



which, until some recent dilapidation, were completely con- 
cealed from view, and where a tool could not have reached them ; 
and the inference is plain, that these stones were carved prior 
to their being placed in their present position ; perhaps were 
used for some anterior purpose. If so, how much it adds to 
their antiquity! 

This carving, which is also in 
the western recess, bears some re- 
semblance to the palm-branch, or 
to the impression of the male fern, 
and is not cut so deep as the others. 
The eastern jamb of the chamber 
opposite the entrance has fallen in- 
wards, and recently exposed a por- 
tion of the under surface of a great 
flag, which is now, for the first time 
since the erection of the building, 
exposed to view. This flag has, like 
most of the other stones here, a 
sort of skin, or brownish outer po- 
lish, as if water-washed. Now, in 
all the exposed carvings upon the 
other stones, the indentures have 
assumed more or less of the dark 
colour and polish around ; whereas 
in this one the colour of the cut- 
ting and the track of the tool is 
just as fresh as if done but yester- 
day. It must have been effected 
immediately before the stone was 
placed in its present position. The 
question may well be asked, what was the purpose of those ; 
are they mere ornamental carvings, or are they inscriptions 
from which the history of this monument, or whatever it 
was originally intended for, might be learned ? Are they 
ideographical, or hierographic, in the strict sense of that word ; 
that is, sacred carving? To this latter we are inclined; and, 
if we may be allowed to coin a word to express our mean- 
ing, we would call them Tymboglyphics, or tomb-writing, for 
similar characters have as yet only been found connected with 
the vestiges of ancient sepulchres, as here, at Dowth, and on 
tombs of a like character in the counties of Down and Done- 




THE BASINS. 



201 



gal. That the meaning of these scriptures, if any such they 
have, beyond being sacred to the dead, shall ever be brought to 
light from the haze of obscurity which now enshrouds them, 
is very problematical. 

In each recess we find an oval, slightly dished, or hollowed 
stone basin, a rude primitive sarcophagus- This, upon the 
right-hand chamber, which is three feet long, is one of the 
most perfect, and differs from the others in having two minor 
indentations cut upon its 
upper concavity. It stands 
in another larger and shal- 
lower basin, while the wes- 
tern crypts contain but 
one such sarcophagus, as 
shown below. 

Having conducted our 
readers thus far over the 
details, we think they are 
anxious to know what is 
our opinion as to the 
purpose for which New 
Grange was constructed. 
We believe, with most modern investigators into such subjects, 
that it was a tomb, or great sepulchral pyramid, similar, in 
every respect, to those 
now standing by the 
banks of the Nile, from 
Dashour to Gaza, each 
consisting of a great cen- 
tral chamber, containing 
one or more sarcophagi, 
entered by a long stone- 
covered passage. The ex- 
ternal aperture was con- 
cealed, and the whole co- 
vered with a great mound 
of stones or earth in a 
conical form. The early 
Egyptians, and the Mexi- 
cans also, possessing greater art and better tools than the primi- 
tive Irish, carved, smoothed, and cemented their great pyra- 





202 PLUNDERING OF ACHADH ALDAI BY THE DANES. 

mids; but the type and purpose in all is the same. From 
Llhwyd's description we learn, that when New Grange was ex- 
amined in 1699, it was found much in the same state which it 
now presents; that " under foot there were nothing but loose 
stones of every size, in confusion, and amongst them a great 
many bones of beasts, and some pieces of deer's horns." Nei- 
ther in this account, nor in that published in Boate's Natural 
History of Ireland, does he make any mention, either that "the 
bones of two dead bodies, entire, not burned, were found upon 
the floor, in all likelihood the relics of a husband and his wife, 
whose conjugal affection had joined them in their grave as in 
their bed!" as related twenty-five years afterwards by Moly- 
neux; nor of the "slender quarry-stone, five or six feet long, 
shaped like a pyramid," which the latter author states lay 
on the floor. That these rude bowls or typical urns originally 
contained human remains, we have little doubt ; but from a 
careful examination of the authorities which refer to the 
accidental opening of New Grange, at the end of the seven- 
teenth century, we feel convinced that this monument had 
been examined long prior to that date; and, therefore, we 
derive little information from modern writings as to what its 
original condition was. That the Danes were well aware that 
these tumuli contained caverns, and probably knowing that 
gold and treasure was to be found within them, rifled several of 
those ancient sepulchres, we have undoubted authority ; for in 
the Annals of Ulster we read the following memorable account 
of an instance of this description ; and although New Grange 
(which, as already stated, is a mere modern name, which gives 
no reference either to its use or locality) is not specified, 
it may fairly be inferred that it formed one of the group 
of the Boyne pyramids rifled by the plundering Northmen, 
a. d. 862. " The cave of Achadh Aldai, and of Cnodhba 
(Knowth), and the cave of the sepulchre of Boadan, over 
Dubhad (Dowth), and the cave of the wife of Gobhan (at 
Drogheda), was searched by the Danes — quod antea non per- 
fection est — on one occasion, that the three kings, Amlaff, Imar, 
and Auisle, were plundering the territory of Flann, the son of 
Conaing." The Annals of the Four Masters thus record the 
same circumstance: "The cave of Achadh Aldai in Mugh- 
dhorna-Maighen [Breagh] ; the cave of Cnoghbhai ; the cave of 
the grave of Bodan, i. e. the shepherd of Elcmar over Du- 



A NECROPOLIS. 203 

bhath ; and the cave of Gobhann at Drochat-atha ; were broken 
and plundered by the same foreigners." All these sepulchres 
were in one territory, the land of Flann, son of Conang, one of 
the chieftains of Meath; and, in all probability,* the cave of 
Achadh Aldai, — that is, the field of Aldai, — the ancestor of the 
Tuatha De Danaan kings, — is that which is now known as New 
Grange ? How far anterior to the Christian era its date should 
be placed, would be a matter of speculation ; it may be of an 
age coeval, or even anterior, to its brethren on the Nile. 

Were we to strip the chamber and passage of New Grange 
of the surrounding mound, to remove the domed portion of 
the cave, and to replace the outer circle, at those parts where 
it is deficient, we should have presented to us a monument 
not unlike Stonehenge. 

Not only in the surrounding plain, but even on the hill of 
New Grange itself, do we meet small sepulchral caves and 
mounds. The whole is one vast cemetery. On the western 
side of the natural hill sloping from this mound, we some 
years ago were present at the opening of a small kistvaen, 
reached by a narrow stone passage, — a sort of miniature New 
Grange ; in it were a quantity of human bones and those of 
small animals, pigs, sheep, dogs, and fowl; some burned, and 
some not bearing any marks of fire ; but the most remarkable 
circumstance about it was, that the bottom of this little cham- 
ber was lined with stones, the upper surfaces of which bore 
evident marks of fire, — in fact were vitrified, — showing that the 
victim, or the dead body, was burned within the grave. 

In the north-eastern margin of New Grange is a curiously 
constructed crypt, like a hermit's cell, but of comparatively 
modern date. It is, however, worth inspection. 

Many years ago, a gold coin of Valentinian, and one of 

* Mr. O'Donovan, in his note on Achadh Aldai, in the Annals, says : 
" This place is described by the Four Masters as situated in the territory of 
Mughdhorna-Maighen, now the barony of Cremorne, in the County Mona- 
ghan ; but it is highly probable, if not certain, that Mughdhorna-Maighen is 
a mistake of transcription for Mughdhorna-Breagh, and that Achadh- Aldai 
is the ancient name of New Grange." It is also added in the same note, " that 
these mounds were first identified with these passages in the Annals, by 
Dr. Petrie, in his Essay on the Military Architecture of the Ancient Irish, read 
before the Royal Irish Academy, January, 1834.'' "We sincerely wish, with 
every lover of Irish archaeology, that Dr. Petiie could be induced to publish 
that Essay. 



204 



THE MOUND OF DOWTH PRIOR TO 1847- 



Theodosius, were discovered on the outside of the mound ; and, 
not very long ago, a labourer, digging a little to the west of 
the entrance, discovered two ancient gold torques and a golden 
chain and two rings. Where are these? Are they in the 
great national collection of the Eoyal Irish Academy? Have 
they been recorded in the Proceedings or Transactions of that, 
or any other learned body in the kingdom ? No ; we regret to 
say, they were carried out of this country by an Irish noble- 
man, to exhibit at a learned society on the other side of the 
channel, in the Transactions of which body they will be found 
figured, together with a letter from their present owner, which, 
as he is our countryman, we will not quote ! 




Within view of New Grange, and about a mile distant, seated 
on one of the higher slopes upon the Boyne's bank, the third 
great cone of the group attracts our attention, — Dubhadh, or 
Dowth, — the accompanying view of which was taken prior to 
the examination of this rath in 1 847- Although not so broad at 
the base as New Grange, it was more conical ; the building on 
the top was a modern structure, a tea-house erected by the late 
eccentric Lord Netterville ; and, certainly, although his know- 
ledge or love for antiquities may be questioned, there can be 
no doubt of his having chosen a spot from whence could be 
obtained one of the noblest prospects in Meath. A circle of 



THE RECENT EXAMINATION OF DOVTH. 205 

boulder-like stones, some traces of which even still remain, 
originally surrounded the base of this mound, which is formed 
entirely of small loose stones ; the external surface, however, 
has been covered with a thick and verdant sod. 

We mentioned that Dowth, or Dubhadh, had been ransacked 
by the Danes, during one of their inroads in the ninth cen- 
tury ; where they broached the mound, or whether they exa- 
mined all its chambers, it is now difficult to say. A considerable 
gap existed in the western face of the mound, caused by large 
quantities of the stones of which it is composed having been 
removed at different times to erect buildings or to break up 
into macadamizing materials for the road which passes at its 
foot. It has been said, we hope without truth, that the grand 
jury of the county on one occasion presented, in form, for 
the stones of Dowth, to improve the condition of their roads. 
In this excavation, on the western side, a passage somewhat 
similar to that of New Grange had long remained exposed ; 
but, from the falling in of its sides and roof, it was not possible 
to follow it for more than a few yards on either side. Whether 
this passage was that originally broken open by Amlaff and his 
plundering Danes, it is difficult to determine. 

A desire having long existed to explore some of these 
monuments, the Committee of Antiquities of the Royal Irish 
Academy obtained permission from the trustees of the Netter- 
ville Charity, the present proprietors of the Dowth estate, to 
examine the interior ; and funds having been procured, chiefly 
by private subscription, and afterwards aided by the Aca- 
demy, the direction of the work was committed to the care of 
Mr. Frith, one of the County Dublin surveyors ; and the Board 
of Works kindly afforded the tools, or "plant,' 3 for carry- 
ing on the excavations. Several excursions were made to the 
spot, for the purpose of deciding on the best means for gaining 
access to the interior, as, from the analogy to New Grange, it 
was supposed to contain a central chamber. Opinions were 
divided as to whether a perpendicular shaft should be sunk 
from the top by a well-borer, or a horizontal tunnel driven in 
from one of the sides towards the centre. The remarkably 
loose material of which the mound is composed presented such 
objections to both these plans, while the apparent feasibility 
of obtaining ingress through the passage already open on the 
western side, so far, at least, as it was possible to follow it, 



206 



THE ENTRANCE TO THE CAVE AT DOWTH. 



was so inviting, that this latter plan was adopted; and, al- 
though the examination has not been attended with the ex- 
pected success, we have no hesitation in pronouncing it to 
have afforded the most valuable results. A catacomb, or series 
of chambers, not unlike those found beneath the great central 
chamber in the largest pyramid of the Sackara range, which 
we described some years ago,* has been fully explored and 
rendered accessible to the curious, and these we shall pre- 
sently detail. Having made an open cutting into the wes- 
tern side of the mound, in following out these passages, it was 
certainly the most advisable, as well as the cheapest plan, to 
follow in the same course, till the centre was reached. In 
effecting this, the modern structure on the top was demo- 
lished ; such, however, was indispensable, and it may act as a 
warning, and show all the future builders of tea-houses, in 
such places, what may 
be the end of their la- 
bours. The upper por- 
tion above the lintel 
in this drawing, repre- 
senting the mouth of 
the passage, is modern, 
the stones being re- 
placed by the workmen, 
but the cut gives a very 
good idea of the ap- 
pearance of this pas- 
sage. 

Following this ex- 
posed gallery, which 
runs eastward, and is 
formed of huge stones, 
set on end and slightly 
inclined at top, nine on 
the right, and eleven 
on the left, sunk in 
the ground, and roofed 

with large flags, similar to that of New Grange, — we are led 
into a chamber of a cruciform shape, and formed, with slight 

* See Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, and along the Shores of the Me- 
diterranean. 




THE CARVINGS AT DOWTH. 



207 



exceptions, upon the type of that already described at page 196, 
in the great pyramid of New Grange. This passage is twenty- 
seven feet long, and some of its stones are carved with circles, 
curved and zig-zag lines. Both in this passage, and at the 
entrances of several of the minor crypts and recesses which 
branch from the chamber, we find sills, formed by large flags, 
projecting above the surface, placed there apparently for the 
purpose of preventing the external pressure driving in the 
side walls. The large central chamber is an irregular oval, 
nine feet four by seven feet, and the blocks of stone which 
form its upright pillars are fully as large as those found at 
New Grange, and several of them are carved like those which 




we have already described in that place. Many of the carv- 
ings, however, at Dowth, which present great beauty of de- 
sign, differ somewhat from those at New Grange. We find 
here, in addition to those already figured, a number of wheel- 
like ornaments and concentric circles, and others with lines ra- 
diating from a point ; while some very much resemble the Ogham 
character, consisting of short, straight, parallel lines.* In some 

* In A. E. Holmberg's " Skandinaviens Hallristningar Arkeologisk Af- 
handgling" there is a figure of a cromlech, with precisely similar markings. 



208 THE CHAMBERS AT DOWTH. 

instances we find the representation of a lotus, or lily-leaf, carved 
with such precision as to give it at first view the appearance 
of a fossil. And what adds to the interest of these sculptures, 
particularly that which we just described, is, that the leaf stands 
out about half an inch in relief, while all the surrounding stone, 
for many feet adjoining, has been picked away with infinite 
care and labour. We would direct the attention of the visiter 
to the great stone, immediately upon the right of the entrance 
of the central chamber; that, again, upon the right of the nor- 
thern recess ; and others, exposed lately, in the remains of a tomb, 
or sepulchral chamber, to the south of the present excavations. 
In the centre of the chamber stands a shallow stone basin, or 
rude sarcophagus, of an ovoid shape, much larger than any of 
those of New Grange, measuring five feet in its longer diameter. 
When the cave was recently opened, only a portion of this 
basin was discovered in its present locality, but all the frag- 
ments, nine in number, have since been recovered in the cham- 
bers and passages around, and now complete the entire. There 
are no basins in the three adjoining recesses. These recesses 
have narrow entrances, and are less open than those of New 
Grange ; that upon the right and the one opposite the entrance 
are each five feet deep ; the southern recess is six feet nine in 
length, and, at its western angle, leads into a passage, which 
opens by a narrow entrance into another series of chambers 
and passages, the most extensive of which runs nearly south- 
ward. The roof of the right hand chamber is nine feet seven 
inches from the floor. Creeping through these dark pas- 
sages, and over the high projecting sills which we have 
already described, we come to two small chambers, one within 
another, running nearly south-west, and measuring about two 
feet six each in breadth. Following, however, the long, 
southern gallery, we find its floor formed by a single stone, ten 
feet six long; and, in the centre of this flag, we find a shallow 
oval excavation, capable of holding about one gallon of fluid, 
and apparently rubbed down with some rude tool, or another 
stone ; it is not unlike one of the shallow, very early quearns 
in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Beyond this flag, 
and separated from it by a projecting sill, we find a terminal 
chamber, with a sloping roof, and capable of holding a man in 
the sitting posture. 

The examination of this great catacomb, and the recent exca- 



ANTIQUITIES FOUND AT DOWTH. 209 

vations at Dowth, have done good service to the cause of an- 
tiquarian research in this country. 

No central chamber was discovered, although the centre was 
reached ; it is possible, however, that there may be instead a 
number of minor crypts existing in the circumference of this 
great hill. In any future examination of tumuli in this great 
cemetery, we confess, we would prefer to open one of the 
minor mounds, situated in the valley of theBoyne: the expense 
would be much less, and the probability of finding them in their 
primitive condition very much greater. We hope to see the 
stones which formed the mound of Dowth replaced in their ori- 
ginal position, as so interesting a monument should certainly 
be restored to the condition in which it was found by those 
who undertook the examination. This is due, not only to the 
trustees of the Netterville Bequest, who have permitted the 
works to be carried on, but to the country at large. 

During the excavations some very interesting relics and 
antiquities were discovered. Among the stones which form 
the great heap, or cairn, were found a number of globular 
stone shot, about the size of grape-shot, probably sling-stones, 
and also fragments of human heads; within the chamber, 
mixed with the clay and dust which had accumulated, were 
found a quantity of bones, consisting of heaps, as well as 
scattered fragments of burned bones, many of which proved 
to be human; also several un burned bones of horses, pigs, 
deer, and birds, with portions of the heads of the short- 
horned variety of the ox, similar to those found at Dun- 
shaughlin, and the head of a fox. Glass and amber beads, of 
unique shapes, portions of jet bracelets, a curious stone button 
or fibula, bone bodkins, copper pins, and iron knives and rings, 
the two latter similar to those found at Dunshaughlin, were also 
picked up. Some years ago a gentleman who then resided in the 
neighbourhood cleared out a portion of the passage, and found 
a few iron antiquities, some bones of mammals, and a small stone 
urn, which he lately presented to the Academy. Much might 
here be written upon the remains of the Fauna known to the 
ancient Irish, did our space permit ; we can, however, merely 
specify some of the bones, and mention some of the articles which 
were discovered. In the beginning of the last century, a stone 
urn, somewhat similar in shape to "the upper part of a man's 
skull," was found in a kistvaen at Knowth ; this, we believe, 

p 



210 PILLAR-STONES AT BRUGH-NA-BOINNE. 

is now in the collection of the Academy ; it is figured by 
Molyneux. 

The Council of the Royal Irish Academy have promised a 
report upon Dowth, which is anxiously looked for: the plans 
and drawings have long since been given in by the engineer. 
Pending that report, which is in the hands of those best fitted 
for its preparation, we forbear to enter into the further details 
of this monument.* 

We could point out many other curious structures and an- 
cient remains, both Pagan and Christian, in this neighbour- 
hood. Pillar-stones, probably monumental, stand all round in 
the valley and on the sloping ground. 

The accompanying woodcut shows 
one of those in the circle of New 
Grange ; it is nine feet high and six- 
teen in circumference. 

A few hundred yards to the south- 
east of the moat of Dowth we have 
St. Bernard's Well ; some remains of 
one of those structures denominated 
Giants' Graves; the old castle of 
Dowth; and the interesting little 
church adjoining, which contains, 
built up in its southern wall, a speci- 
men of very early Irish sculpture, 
concerning which there is at present 
little known ; it is similar in design 
to the figure on the cross of St. 
Adamnan, to which we alluded at page 123. Immediately ad- 
joining are the ramparts, baths, walks, and ponds, made by the 
late eccentric Lord Netterville, together with some of the finest 
mulberry trees in this part of the kingdom. 

The tourist should visit a small cave, formed with recesses, 
similar to New Grange, in the pleasure grounds of Netterville; 
and two other remains, a small circular moat and a fort, in its 
vicinity. All these antiquarian riches occur within the space of 
about half a mile ; or if we were to extend our range to the mill 

* The original sketches of the " Boyne" were commenced in the Dublin 
University Magazine, several months before any examination of Dowth was 
undertaken by the members of the Royal Irish Academy. 




CLOGHLEA. 



211 



of Eossan, in Monk- Newtown, we could examine, with much in- 
terest, a ring fort and another New Grange, upon a minor scale, 
which was rudely torn asunder, and left in a dilapidated con- 
dition, in the spring of 1847, by some Goth, in order to con- 
vert a few of its stones into gate-posts : but we can now 
merely direct attention to the sites of these latter. 

Within the demesne of Dowth or Netterville is to be seen 
one of the very largest ring forts or military raths in Ireland, 
except, perhaps, the Giant's Ring at Belfast. It is about 300 
paces in circumference, round the top of the embankment, and 
has a large opening on the south-western side. This O'Dono- 
van supposes was the fort of Dun-na-nGedh, where Domhnall 
gave his celebrated feast, to which we alluded at p. 1 76.* 

In the same field, 
and immediately ad- 
joining the road, 
and now forming the 
edge of a quarry, we 
meet Cloghlea, a por- 




tion of a stone circle, am 
evidently a part of 
the side wall or base- 
ment of a sepulchral 
chamber similar to 
New Grange, than 
which it was, perhaps, even larger. Four of these stones, of 
immense size (one twelve feet long), still stand, two others are 
prostrate, and two more are lying in the adjoining quarry, — 
eight in all. Human remains have, on more than one occasion, 
been found in the vicinity of this remnant of an ancient tumu- 
lus. On the edges of these stones will be found indentations 
similar to those in some of the stones of the passage of New 
Grange, one of which is figured at page 194. 



See Battle of Magh Rath, p. 7. 



p2 



212 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ETHNOLOGY OF THE ANCIENT IRISH. 

MODES AND MEANS OF STUDYING ETHNOLOGY.— WHO ARE THE IRISH.— HISTORIC REFERENCES.— 
WHAT REMAINS OF THE ORIGINAL STOCK EXIST.— THE CELTS.— THE FTRBOLGS.— THE TUATHA 
DE DANAAN.— EARLY IRISH FORMS OF BURIAL.— TUMULT, AND THEIR CONTENTS.— CROMLECHS. 
— KISTVAEXS— SEPULCHRAL URNS.— INCINERATION.— SCANDINAVIAN RESEARCHES.— CRANIA OF 
THE ANCIENT IRISH.— BATTLE FIELDS.— ADVICE TO TOMB OPENERS. 

The origin and early history of every nation is involved in con- 
siderable obscurity and doubt. As we follow up the stream of 
time towards its source, or trace back on the page of the world's 
history, the various people of the earth, we are accustomed to 
infer the antiquity of a nation from its monuments, or to receive 
as authority the tales and traditions of its existing inhabitants, 
when written records are defective. Thus, when we speak of that 
land of mystery, the offspring of the Nile, we point to its eternal 
pyramids, its regal tombs, and its solemn and majestic temples, 
as proofs of the magnificence of conception and design, the 
perfection in art, the illusive splendour of the religion, and the 
luxury and pomp of its early occupants. In like manner, and 
with similar feelings, we view the Acropolis of Athens, or that 
of Corinth, as instancing taste and refinement among the early 
Greeks ; but, long before the days in which these structures 
were erected, we turn for proofs of the arts and civilization of 
the earliest people of that classic land to the tomb and city of 
Agamemnon, or the Cyclopean -walled Tyrinthus. These, with 
the ruins of Persepolis, Petra, Baalbec, Hebron, and Palmyra, 
the palm-groved city of Solomon, together with the various mo- 
numents of India and the Americas, the Druid circle of North- 
western Europe, or the sepulchral pyramid of New Grange, 
all afford material to the speculative antiquary who takes 
architecture as his guide, whereby he may unravel the story of 
our race, or learn, by tracing the similarity in design and artis- 
tic execution, either in religious, warlike, or sepulchral monu- 
ments, the source from whence the various waves of population 
were originally given off. 

Again, the philologist starts up and traces the origin, or, 



MODES OF STUDYING ETHNOLOGY. 213 

if not exactly the origin, at least the connexion between diffe- 
rent nations and people, by the study of language, and with 
most extraordinary assiduity spends years, nay, a lifetime, in 
investigating the subject of living speech, or the dead but 
written tongues of various nations; and frequently, by the 
derivation of some obscure term, traces such cognate affinities 
— as they are termed — as lead him at once to conclusions often 
as absurd as they are erroneous. At the same time there can 
be little doubt that when such investigations are properly and 
judiciously carried on by men of learning and ability, who 
bring to the task an extensive acquaintance with the subject 
of language generally, and who are able to read, or perhaps 
speak, the tongues they treat of, — in fact, men who have some- 
thing more than a mere dictionary knowledge of this interest- 
ing and hitherto neglected branch of science, — then, and not 
till then, will any extensive progress be made towards that 
entrance whereby the paths in the enchanted gardens of the 
past may be trod with security, and through which the in- 
vestigator of the natural history of man may yet hope to arrive 
at the birth-place of nations. 

The antiquary in language and the antiquary in architec- 
ture and artistic remains seldom agree; and the historian, 
while he gathers what he can from both, generally increases 
the maze of difficulty and perplexity under which the reader 
of the works of the two former labours, by weaving a web 
of his own, spun from the fables of old songs and imagina- 
tive romances, or the legends and traditions still living in the 
mouths of the people of the country he is engaged in de- 
scribing. Thus, conjectures the most improbable, and specu- 
lations the most absurd, are to be found in the writings of 
historians on the subject of the early peopling of different coun- 
tries ; and the tenacity with which Irish writers have adhered 
to the fables of the past has long since become proverbial. Let 
this not, however, remain a matter of surprise; it has ever 
been the feeling and the failing of mankind, individually and 
collectively, to boast of their antiquity. The Tyrians did so 
in the time of Ezekiel, who, in his graphic and glowing de- 
scription of the downfall and destruction of their island home, 
taunts them in these biting and sarcastic words, " Is this 
your city whose antiquity is of ancient days?" and have we 
not this feeling starting up in every-day society, and at every 



214 MODES OF STUDYING ETHNOLOGY. 

turn, of people magnifying themselves by tracing back their 
pedigrees like the Hebrews and Phoenicians of old. 

Of late years, to aid the investigations of the architect and 
artistic antiquary, the philologist, and the historian, a fourth 
science has been called into the field, which, while it in 
nowise detracts from the former ones, has even already, in 
its very infancy, done much to advance the proper inves- 
tigation of the world's history, and promises to prove one 
of the most industrious and sure handmaids to history ge- 
nerally, — we mean the science of Ethnography, or the na- 
tural history of man, including his physical character; his 
from and stature; the colour of his skin, his hair, and his 
complexion ; his physiognomy ; his habits and moral con- 
dition, together with his geographical distribution ; but more 
particularly than all the rest, the form of his skull. It sounds 
strange, but it is nevertheless true, that of all the living crea- 
tures that exist upon the surface of our globe, there is none 
whose zoological characters are, or at least were, until these 
few years past, so little studied or understood as man, in 
his animal character. This interesting inquiry, thanks to the 
labours of Blumenbach, Cuvier, Prichard, Morton, and others, 
has already become one of popular interest; and although it is 
rapidly progressing, yet the study of the natural history of 
man, in the present day, very much resembles the condition 
geology was in some few years ago, when men generalized 
from too few facts, and often propounded some wild and ex- 
travagant theory from the discovery of a single fossil. Yet, 
from the vast collections of minerals and organic remains that 
have been subsequently accumulated, more sober inquirers 
have drawn up rational and scientific systems. Now, wher- 
ever history extends her track, she carries with her, in addi- 
tion to the traditionary and written records of a country, its 
antiquities and philology, an inquiry also into the physical 
characters of the human race or races, either living or extinct, 
that are to be found therein. Thus to the description left us 
in the ancient classic writings ; to the written records in its 
hieroglyphic and phonetic writing, and the pictorial exhibi- 
tions either carved upon the monuments or imprinted on the 
walls of tombs and temples ; and to those fanes and sepulchres 
themselves ; we are now able, from the examination of the hu- 
man remains found in that great necropolis of the ancient world, 



FROM WHENCE CAME THE EARLY IRISH? 215 

to add the physical characters of the ancient Egyptians ; so that 
we have almost as lively a representation of the appearance, 
the warfare, the religious ceremonies, the arts, trades, manufac - 
tures and manufacturers, together with the social economy and 
the habits and manners of that extraordinary people, as any 
modern writer has afforded us of any country or people at 
present existing upon the face of the globe. But as other 
primitive nations were not similarly minded with the red- 
skinned inhabitants of Thebes, Memphis, or Heliopolis, — as 
they neither embalmed their dead, carved their sepulches out 
of the solid rocks, raised monuments like the pyramids, sculp- 
tured statues like the Sphinx or the Memnon, nor left us 
records of their deeds in a pictorial language preserved for 
upwards of three thousand six hundred years, — we have but 
scanty means whereby to found a probable theory as to their 
origin, habits, or condition, prior to the date of authentic 
written testimony. And as a country presents more or less 
of ancient monuments of art, or vestiges of language, even 
without the aid of written records, so will the antiquary 
or the historian possess in a greater or less degree the data 
whereon to found some rational theory as to the date of its 
first colonization, or the origin of its inhabitants, with their 
religion and their civil and social condition. 

Having offered these brief remarks upon the best means 
for investigating the early history of a country, we now come 
to ask ourselves the questions, who we are? — from whence 
sprung the Irish race ? — to what tribes of mankind did we 
originally belong? — at what period was this country first 
peopled, and what vestiges of that aboriginal race still exist 
amongst us to point out their physical characters, their habits, 
social, warlike, or domestic, their religion, or knowledge of li- 
terature, architecture, and the arts? The last inquiry is that 
most easily answered; we have still remaining in the island 
some relics of the early inhabitants, chiefly their sepulchral 
monuments, the cromlech and the kistvaen, the monumental 
pillar, the rude altar, the terracotta urn, a few bone and shell 
ornaments, and a variety of flint and iron weapons and imple- 
ments, knives, arrow and spear-heads, and stone hatchets, 
together with that which it is our more immediate pro- 
vince to bring before the reader, their bones and skulls; 
and this may really be said to sum up all that is positively 



216 DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING ETHNOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 

known about them. As to the inquiry of who they actu- 
ally were, or from whence they first came, although it may 
be ungrateful to our national pride to acknowledge it, we must 
confess we are still wandering in the trackless fields of con- 
jecture. But is this peculiar to the Irish nation? By no 
means. In Egypt, which for its antiquity and frequent men- 
tion in the earliest authentic writings, we have chosen for 
illustration, we see the monuments of the earliest date, we 
read the history of its people in characters which vividly bring 
before us their manners and customs; everything is there 
pourtrayed with the freshness of yesterday; the bodies of 
thousands upon thousands of its people still remain as they 
came from the hands of the embalmer, as if ready to start 
into a second existence; the arms of the warrior, the robe of 
the priest, and the toilet of the lady, are there ready for our 
inspection : yet, with all this, we positively know nothing 
certain as to who first peopled the valley of the Nile. So it is 
with the first people of America, — so with the Chinese, — so 
with the Irish: the certainty of origin cannot be traced back 
to any extent. There are, however, a few exceptions to this 
very general rule in those primitive nations against whom we 
read of certain direct and positive denunciations being issued 
by the great Disposer of the goings of man. Have we not still, 
after the lapse of hundreds upon hundreds of years, the "ser- 
vant of servants" in the oppressed and enslaved sons of Africa? 
and do we not meet in the swarthy, sinewy child of the desert, 
the lawless Bedouin, who knows no law but his own will, and 
owns no master but his own appetite, — the man " whose hand 
is against every man?" But, above all, have we not that 
living miracle still before us, the Hebrew people, ever re- 
maining distinct and separate, though outcast, scattered, and 
despised, with an unbroken descent, and an unaltered lineage 
from their forefather Abraham to the present day? These 
are nations, and we believe the only ones, where, in addition 
to their stereotyped physical characters and personal appear- 
ance, history has afforded a chain of evidence, as to their origin 
and descent, from the earliest period to the present. 

To enumerate the various opinions, the crude hypotheses, 
the absurd and fanciful traditions of writers as to the origin 
of the Irish people, might, did space permit, or the subject 
we are about to treat of require it, afford us amusement, but 



WHO ARE THE CELTS? 217 

certainly little instruction. Some assert that the early people 
of Erin were a Gothic race, but most writers seem to agree that 
we were a Celtic colony ; but who the Celts were, from whence 
they sprang, what country they first inhabited, into what tribes 
they were divided, what was their original language, or what 
their physical characters or personal appearance, has not yet 
been decided by the learned; nor whether they existed coeval 
with, or how they differed from the Gothic, the Teutonic, or 
the Belgic races, in the early peopling of the western and 
south-western countries of Europe. And yet how learnedly, 
how frequently, and with what confidence, do we hear the 
term " Celts," or " of Celtic origin," or " Celtic Druids," or 
" the Celtse and the Belgae," with such like expressions, made 
use of in scientific as well as popular discourses ! We believe 
that if the exact meaning of the persons who make use of 
these expressions was to be inquired into, it would be found 
to consist in neither more nor less than the original or primi- 
tive inhabitants of the countries under consideration. Having 
taken some trouble in inquiring into this matter, — having 
examined several authorities that allude to this race, — hav- 
ing traced them, as we thought, from country to country in 
Europe, — having sought after their remains in the collections 
of the curious, or in the writings of the modern learned, we 
found ourselves, like many others, although in possession of a 
large collection of facts and references bearing upon the 
origin of the Celts, and their connexion with Ireland, nearly 
as wise as when we commenced the investigation. In fact, we 
found we were running in a circle ; and what one author put 
forward to-day, another contradicted to-morrow; so that the 
nearer we approach the age we live in, the more incongruous 
and uncertain become the opinions that are set forth. Hero- 
dotus informs us that the Celta? were the primitive people 
that sprang from the borders of the Danube, yet we possess a 
skull found in an ancient tumulus on the confines of Hungary, 
which is evidently altered by artificial pressure, and in a re- 
markable manner resembles those compressed crania found in 
the sepulchres of the ancient Peruvians, particularly in the val- 
ley of Titicaca.* Similar tumuli, and containing similar re- 

* See "Austria and its Institutions," p. 49, where there is a drawing of this 
very remarkable skull, for a cast of which we are indebted to Count Albert 
Thun, of Prague. 



218 THE FIRBOLGS; AND 

mains, stretch along the borders of the Danube, through both 
the Austrias, and extend in a north-western direction into 
Moravia, and even Bohemia. 

Let us now turn to the immediate object before us. With 
the peopling of Ireland before the flood, as related in Irish 
manuscripts, or in the legends detailed by Keating, and, since 
his time, copied into all the popular histories of this country, 
we do not now deal. They may, or may not be fact, but they 
affect not the present subject. All authorities agree in accord- 
ing to this island inhabitants at a very early period, long 
prior to the Christian era: who those aborigines were, or from 
whence they came, is involved in the same mystery that hangs 
over the origin of the early people of Europe generally. In 
Irish they are generally denominated Firbolgs ; and it is re- 
ported that under them a settled form of government was first 
introduced into this island. In the mixture of fable and fact 
which relates to these people, either traditional or in our manu- 
scripts, very little of their habits or physical characters has 
come down to our time. Of this people, says Dr. Petrie, in his 
learned Essay on the History and Antiquities of Tara, — " Ac- 
cording to the Irish bardic traditions, the hill of Tara became 
the chief residence of the Irish kings, on the first establish- 
ment of a monarchical government in Ireland, under Slainge, 
the first monarch of the Firbolgs, and continued so till its 
abandonment in the year 563." In an Irish manuscript, the 
Book of Mac Firbis, written about the year 1650, an account 
of which, from a translation by Mr. Eugene Curry, has 
been laid before the Royal Irish Academy, by Dr. Petrie, it 
is said that "every one who is black, loquacious, lying, tale- 
telling, or of low and grovelling mind, is of the Firbolg de- 
scent." To this Firbolg race a Belgic origin has been usu- 
ally assigned ; those Belgae appear to have been of German 
or Gothic extraction; and as far as history has left us a trace 
of this people, they seem to have been followed, and subse- 
quently subdued, by the Celtae. 

In the Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, 
we have some account of the early people of this country, from 
the time of the arrival of Partholan, whose descendants, the 
early colonists of Erin, were cut off by a plague, it is said, in 
one week, A. M. 2820. Then came Nemed, and " the Viri Bul- 
loruin, i. e. the Firbolg," so called, it is said, by Keating, from 



THE TUATHA DE DANA AN. 219 

the leathern bags which they had with them in Greece, for 
carrying mould to lay it on the flat-surfaced rocks, so as to 
convert them into flowery plains ; but as Dr. Todd, the learned 
editor of the work from which we quote, justly remarks, 
" Bullum, in the Latinity of the middle ages, signified, accord- 
ing to Du Cange, Baculum pastoris, which suggests a deriva- 
tion of the name Fir- Bolg." Wherever they came from, it would 
appear that they were a simple pastoral people, who possessed 
little knowledge of art, science, or war, even according to the 
acceptation of these terms in the limited sense to which they 
may be applied in the very early ages. With these afterwards 
appeared the Fir-Gaileoin, the Viri Armorum, or Spearsmen, 
perhaps from their warlike propensities: and also the Fir- 
Domnann, who, as well as the Firbolg, seem to be a pastoral 
or agricultural people. "Afterwards the Plebes Deorum, i.e. 
the Tuatha De Danaan, took Ireland ; it was of them the chief 
men of science, as Luctenus, artifex, Credenus, figulus [bra- 
zier], Dianus, medicus; also Eadon, his daughter, viz., the 
nurse of the poets ; Goibnen, faber; Lug, son of Eithne, with 
whom were all arts. Dagda, the great son of Ealadan, son of 
Dealbaith, the king. Ogma, brother of the king ; it was from 
him came the letter of the Scots" — Ogham.* 

The Annals of the Four Masters inform us that the three 
last kings of this race who were in joint sovereignty over Ire- 
land in A. M. 3471, were Mac Cuill, Mac Ceacht, and Mac 
Grein. Mr. O'Donovan has added the following valuable com- 
ment on this : 

" According to an old Irish poem, quoted by Keating in his 
History of Ireland (See Haliday's edition, p. 212), the real 
names of these kings were Eathur, Teathur, and Ceathur; 
and the first was called Mac Cuill, because he worshipped the 
hazel tree : the second Mac Ceacht, because he worshipped the 
plough, evidently alluding to his wish to promote agriculture ; 
and the third, Mac Greine, because he worshipped the sun as 
his god. For some fanciful disquisitions upon the history and 
names of these kings, the reader is referred to Vallancey's Vin- 



* See " The Conquest of Eri, as recorded by Nennius," p. 45, et seq. 
We have given this account of the early Irish colonists from the volume re- 
cently published by the Irish Archaeological Society, rather than extract from 
the more ancient but fanciful history of Keating, who must have drawn up his 
account of these people from this and similar other authentic documents. 



220 THE TUATHA DE DANAAN ; 

dication of Irish History, p. 496. In Mageoghegan's translation 
of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, it is stated that ' this people, 
Tuathy De Danan, rnled in Ireland for 197 years; that they 
were most notable magicians, and would work wonderful 
thinges by magick and other diabolicale arts, wherein they 
were exceedingly well skilled, and in these days accompted the 
chiefest in the world in that profession.' From the many 
monuments ascribed to this colony by tradition, and in ancient 
Irish historical tales, it is quite evident that they were a real 
people ; and from their having been considered gods and magi- 
cians by the Gaedhil or Scoti, who subdued them, it may be 
inferred that they were skilled in arts which the latter did not 
understand. Among these was Danann, the mother of the 
gods, from whom Oa cic Ocmcunne (the two paps of Danan), 
a mountain in Kerry, was called ; Buanann, the goddess that 
instructed the heroes in military exercises, the Minerva of 
the ancient Irish; Badhbh, the Bellona of the ancient Irish; 
Abhortach, god of music ; Ned, the god of war ; Nemon, 
his wife ; Manannan, the god of the sea ; Diancecht, the 
god of physic ; Brighit, the goddess of poets and smiths, 
&c. It appears from a very curious and ancient Irish tract, 
written in the shape of a dialogue between St. Patrick and 
Caoilte Mac Ronain, that there were very many places in 
Ireland where the Tuatha-De-Dananns were then supposed to 
live as sprites or fairies, with corporeal and material forms, but 
indued with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn 
from these stories is, that the Tuatha-De-Dananns lingered in 
the country for many centuries after their subjugation by the 
Gaedhil, and that they lived in retired situations, where they 
practised abstruse arts, which induced the others to regard 
them as magicians." 

Professor Rask supposes the aborigines of Western and South- 
western Europe to have been an Euskarian race, from whom 
sprang the Iberians ; and his researches lead him to believe that 
he can discover traces of the Euskarian language among the 
French Basques and Spanish Bascayans, as well as in some of 
the Finnish, Lapland, and Danish tribes ; and it has been even 
asserted that an inhabitant of Ireland and a Spaniard of the 
Basque provinces, could understand one another. Mr. Bor- 
row, who is probably better acquainted with the Euskarian 
tongue than any other Englishman at present, asserts that 
there is not the slightest affinitv between them; but accu- 



THEIE PHYSICAL CHARACTERS AND ARTS. 221 

rate as Mr. Borrow's knowledge of the old Spanish may be, he 
does not appear to be sufficiently versed in the Gaelic, to offer 
as correct an opinion on it as on most other European tongues. 
In fact, to approach or handle this subject effectually, we should 
have scholars versed in the composition and construction of both 
languages, as well as possessing a fluency of speech in both, espe- 
cially since mere sound is often the point of resemblance most 
relied on. From whatever examination Ave have been able to 
make, and from the communications with which we have been fa- 
voured from other countries, we find traces of the same aborigi- 
nal people spread over a large portion of the central and north- 
west parts of the European continent, together with Ireland, 
and probably Great Britain also. Whether this first wave of 
population arrived here from the East, having passed over to 
us from the South, as from Gaul and the littoral parts of Spain, 
or by the North, from Sweden and Denmark, is not so easy 
to determine. At all events, we find the remains of this 
people precisely similar, and the circumstances under which 
they are found accurately corresponding in every country 
where they have yet been discovered. Now, for distinction 
sake, we will call these the aborigines, and, in accordance with 
our traditions and histories, the Firbolgs. It is next related 
that the aborigines were overcome by another, and, evidently 
from the accounts in the manuscripts, a superior race, the 
Tuatha De Danaan. These hostile invaders, who are stated to 
have been skilled in magic, necromancy, and the like black arts, 
are supposed by some writers, even in the present day, not to be 
human beings at all, but fairies or sprites. There are, however, 
too many existing records of these fleshly inhabitants of our isle 
to doubt their identity ; and we believe the very arts and magic 
assigned to them, particularly by the rude, simple, and compa- 
ratively ignorant aborigines of our country, arose from their 
knowledge of so much chemistry as related to the art of 
mining and the smelting of metals. Of the physical characters 
of this people we have but little knowledge. It is, however, 
related in the manuscript Book of Mac Firbis, to which we 
have already alluded, that " every one who is fair-haired, of 
large size, fond of music and horse riding, and practises the 
art of magic, is of Tuatha De Danaan descent." That these 
people were skilled in medicine we have elsewhere shown, and 
one of the oldest Irish manuscripts on record gives an account 



222 WERE THE EARLY IRISH PHOENICIANS? 

of the celebrated battle fought on the plains of Moy Turey, 
in the county of Sligo, when Nuada Airgeat Lamh, the king 
of the Tuatha De Danaan, completely routed the BelgaB or Fir- 
bolgs, a vast number of whom are said to have been slain ; 
and on that battle-field, the Marathon of Irish history, we have 
still remaining the tumuli or barrows erected over the remains 
of our early Pagan progenitors. Dr. Petrie detailed to the 
Academy, in the year 1838, an account of a most remarkable 
collection of cairns, cromlechs, and stone circles, at Carrow- 
more, in the vicinity of Sligo, all containing human remains. 
" Such monuments," he stated, " are found in all the battle- 
fields recorded in Irish history, as the scene of con test between 
the Belgians or Firbolgs and the Tuatha De Danaan colonies, 
and he considers these monuments to be the tombs of the Bel- 
gians, who, after their defeat in the battle of southern Moy- 
Thuree, had retreated to Cuil-Iorra, and were there again 
defeated, and their king Eochy slain in crossing the strand of 
Ballysadare bay, on which a cairn rising above high water 
still marks the spot on which he fell." To these Tuatha De 
Danaan, or metal workers, we are inclined to assign a Celtic 
origin, and to their art and ingenuity to attribute the workman- 
ship of those beautiful bronze or antique-metal ornaments and 
weapons, formed by a mixture of copper and tin, so generally 
found over the face of the country, and now swelling our na- 
tional collection at the Royal Irish Academy. 

The Irish are said to be a Phoenician race, and perhaps these 
Tuatha De Danaan were the Phoenician Cabiri. We are quite 
willing to bow to those antiquaries who endeavour to show an 
early connexion between Ireland and the Tyrian people, and 
are personally willing to adopt, though we may not be able to 
prove, the opinion expressed as to the Oriental commerce with 
this country direct from Tyre and Sidon, or through their co- 
lonies in Spain and Tuscany ; but it has not been proved that 
the Phoenicians were the original settlers in Ireland. The Gaelic 
is not the Punic tongue, although we believe the remains of 
the latter are insufficient to determine the point ; but we do 
confidently assert that the earliest record of the Phoenician 
people exhibit them to us in the highest state of civilization 
of that day, — a great commercial and perhaps a literary people 
also, — skilled above their fellows in all the arts of the time. 
Sidon and its daughter Tyre, the cradle of Oriental art, are 



THE SCOTI, MILESIANS, AND DANES. 223 

mentioned by undoubted authority, as flourishing cities nearly 
sixteen centuries before the Christian era. More than a thousand 
years before that epoch, their inhabitants were the greatest ar- 
tificers in the world, and were invited by the wisest and most 
gorgeous monarch of the East to construct the most splendid 
edifice that history, either ancient or modern, can point to ; and 
from a people whom the great prophetic poet of the Babylonish 
court described as exceeding in power, luxury, and magnifi- 
cence all surrounding nations, we cannot believe sprung the sim- 
ple early inhabitants of Ireland, to whose handiwork Ave ascribe 
the rude cinerary urns, the cromlechs and kistvaens, with shell 
ornaments, bone pins and bodkins, and some stone weapons, 
found in tumuli, nor even to the people who lived in the 
early age of bronze that followed that period. It is a fact, — 
curious, but generally overlooked by Irish historians who 
bring hither colonies of different nations, — that there are but 
the remains of one language known in manuscripts, or spoken 
amongst us. 

The Tuatha De Danaan were in turn overcome by the 
Milesian race [perhaps the Gaedhil or Scoti], but with 
this people our subject has little to do; for even if the Mi- 
lesians did come to Ireland at the time and in the manner 
told in history, and that all the circumstances attending 
their invasion be as related by the Irish bards, still we be- 
lieve they differed not in physical characters from their 
brother Celts who preceded them, although in civilization 
they were more advanced. After a long lapse of years, when 
Paganism had given place to Christianity, history becomes 
more definite in her terms, and more accurate in her descrip- 
tions. Probably about the year A. D. 900, those hardy, en- 
terprising Northmen, who conquered wherever they trod, 
and found their way wherever there was a wave to carry 
them, landed upon our coast, and held sway for some time over 
the then existing inhabitants of our country. To this naval and 
warlike people, and to the age of their invasion, are generally 
attributed the iron weapons and implements discovered in 
this country. Dr. Prichard inclined to the opinion that the 
Eomans assisted in the civilization of Ireland; but, with 
great deference to that eminent authority, we submit that 
there never have been any remains of that people discovered in 
this country, and we do not believe the Roman people ever 



224 EARLY IRISH MODES OF BURIAL. 

had a footing in Ireland. With the various English invasions 
in more modern times every reader of Irish history is familiar. 
We shall now demonstrate some of the human remains of the 
first or earliest inhabitants found in this country, and detail the 
circumstances under which they have been discovered. At the 
beginning of the last century, the distinguished physician, Sir 
Thomas Molyneux, was the first to investigate this interesting 
subject, which, from his day until the publication of the Proceed- 
ings of the Royal Irish Academy a few years ago, remained for- 
gotten and neglected; and the very prejudices and superstitions 
of the lower orders of our countrymen who might accidentally 
open any of the ancient burial-places, led them to secrete or de- 
stroy any human remains found within them. Owing partly to 
this cause, and partly to the circumstance of their value not 
being understood from the days of Molyneux until within the 
last dozen years, there does not appear to have been any regard 
paid by antiquaries to the preservation or description of hu- 
man remains. The folio wing nummary includes an account of 
the various forms of burial made use of by our aborigines, at 
least so far as we have any authentic account of them: — First 
and most notable is a dome-roofed stone chamber, containing the 
remains of one or more bodies, and approached by a covered 
way, the whole being enclosed in a large earthen tumulus or 
barrow, and generally surrounded by a circle of upright pillar- 
stones. This is the true pyramid, modify it as we please, of 
which the type is to be found in those great oriental monu- 
ments, with the characters of which all are acquainted. The 
most splendid specimen of this description, which we know of 
in Central or North-western Europe, is the magnificent mauso- 
leum at New Grange, which may well be denominated the Great 
Pyramid of the West. When New Grange was first opened, a 
great many years ago, we are told that " two entire skeletons, 
not burnt, were found on the floor ;" but what characters these 
bones presented, or with what emblems that might mark the 
date of their interment, we know not, as none of the remains dis- 
covered in this vault have come down to the present day. We 
only hear that the bodies were buried entire, and not burned. 
In 1839, the account of a tumulus of a similar character, 
found near Rush, in this county, was presented to the Royal 
Irish Academy by Lieutenant Newenham. This barrow, called 
Knochlea, consisted of a chamber about eight feet long and 



SCANDINAVIAN SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 225 

six wide, placed beneath an immense heap of earth and boulder 
stones. The chamber was approached by a stone-constructed 
passage, eleven yards long and one in width. " The lines of 
stones forming the sides of the passage appear to continue on 
through the mound towards the north side; and a few feet 
below the present surface of the barrow, a little to the north 
of the chamber, there is a bed of periwinkle shells, about eight 
inches thick, with some limpet and muscle shells intermixed; 
and beneath this bed of shells there was a quantity of dark, 
rich mould, with some reddish earth, which has the appear- 
ance of being burned. A few human bones, and some bones 
of small animals, were found in the earth beneath." 

Professor A. Retzius, of Stockholm, and Professor Eschricht, 
of Copenhagen, two most distinguished northern philoso- 
phers, — and whose opinions in almost every particular corres- 
pond with and confirm the views which we have on two or three 
occasions ventured to put forward with regard to the charac- 
teristics of the aboriginal Irish heads, and the circumstances 
under which they are found, — have published accounts of the 
crania of the ancient people of Scandinavia, and the graves or 
tumuli in which they have been discovered.* 

Eschricht informs us that two large tumuli, or " warriors' 
barrows," as they are popularly denominated, having been 
opened in the vicinity of Stege, "the position and the contents, 
which were almost the same in both, testified that they be- 
longed to the barrows of the oldest period. Through a narrow 
aperture on the south side of each of the barrows ingress was 
given to a small passage, and thence to a chamber in the mid- 
dle of the barrow, the proper sepulchral chamber." The passage 
and sepulchral chamber were constructed with large, flat, un- 
hewn stones. It appears that the smaller tumulus of the two had 
previously been partially opened from above by some peasants, 

* This communication -was originally published in a small Danish periodi- 
cal, the " Dansk Folkeblad" by Professor Eschricht ; but his views having 
been questioned by Professor Nilsson, of Lund, who has also written on the 
Swedish crania and antiquities, they did not at first receive the acceptation which 
they imdoubtedly deserve. .We are much indebted to Professor A. Eetzius for a 
copy of S. Xilsson's rare and most valuable work, — " Skandinaviska Nordens 
Ur-Inanareett Forsokl Komparativa Ethnografien" &c, Lund, 1888-1843, — 
where there are several lithographic representations of the northern crania. 
Nilsson asserts that the globular crania found in northern tumuli belonged to 
a Lapland people of the Mongolian race. 

Q 



226 GLOBULAR SCANDINAVIAN CRANIA. 

and no skeleton was found in it ; but several stone weapons, clay 
urns, and a great number of amber ornaments, lay scattered 
throughout. In the larger barrow the passage was ten ells 
long, and the sepulchral apartment sixteen ; the walls consisted 
of large oblong stones, the interstices between which were care- 
fully filled up with slabs of split sandstone. The weapons, 
tools, and ornaments found in this barrow were all of stone, 
bone, shell, or amber ; but what interests us most are the re- 
mains of nine or ten human bodies discovered in this sepul- 
chral chamber, the heads of which were of rather a small size; 
and this wood- cut is a reduced representation of one of them. 

The description of 
head from which this 
was taken has many 
analogies with the 
remains of a globular- 
headed race found in 
ancient sepulchres in 
ourowncountry,tobe 
described presently. 
So small a head, says 
Professor Eschricht, 
is seldom found among 
the present Danes. It 
is the face, however, 
which appears small ; 

the capacity of the skull is proportionably large. With regard 
to the peculiar tribe or race of people to whom this head be- 
longed, all the conjecture that the learned Dane has ventured 
upon is, that these individuals belonged to a noble tribe of the 
Caucasian race ; but whether Celts, Goths, or Lappons, he does 
not say. The facial portion of these heads being small, without 
doubt the whole body was not above the middle size. The 
traces of the facial muscles, on the other hand, were exceed- 
ingly strong ; the play of the features was, therefore, during 
life, very energetic. The orbits or eye sockets are very small, 
low, and deeply hidden under the eye-brows. The nasal bones 
were particularly strong, prominent, and inclined towards the 
horizontal, with a deep groove or sulcus between their root and 
the margin of the brow. These people must, there#re, have had 
strongly marked, arched, prominent noses. In those casts and 
drawings which have been forwarded to us from Denmark and 




ELONGATED SCANDINAVIAN CRANIA. 227 

Sweden the projections which support the eye-brows, or the 
superciliary ridges as they are styled in technical language, 
are remarkably prominent ; and we are led to believe that the 
eyes themselves must have appeared small and sunken ; and, 
says our correspondent, " the small face, with the lively play 
of the features, the small eye set deeply under the eye-brows, 
and the large, aquiline nose, are characteristics which, taken 
together, imply a dark colour of the skin, eyes, and hair ;" 
but the globular-headed Saxon Germans of the present day 
have generally light hair and blue eyes. 

A second excavation of a barrow of great size was subse- 
quently undertaken, in the island of Moen, at a place called 
Maglehaei. The sepulchral chamber in this contained twenty 
human skeletons, together with the skull and some bones of a 
dog, and the implements and ornaments were of the same cha- 
racter as those in the early excavations, consisting of bone, 
stone, and amber, but not the least trace of metal of any de- 
scription. It is interesting to remark that upon one of the 
skulls found in this collection, a portion of dark brown hair 
still remained. 

We now turn 
to another age in 
northern Europe, 
the bronze or me- 
tallic period. In 
the summer of 
1821 there was 
dug up at Funen, 
in a gravel pit, 
two human ske- 
letons, surround- 
ed, it is said, by 
various metallic 
articles. A silver buckle lay on the breast, a spirally twisted 
gold ring, like our torques, surrounded one of the fingers, and 
a large metal pan or kettle lay at the feet. The skulls pre- 
sented a totally different appearance from those found in the 
stone chamber, and in connexion with stone ornaments and 
weapons. This is a faithful representation of one of these 
long low skulls. The skeletons belonging to this race are 
said to be of a stature above the common. Subsequently to 

Q2 




228 THE CROMLECH FORM OF BURIAL. 

Eschricht's communication, we were favoured with one from 
Professor A. Retzius, together with the cast of a cranium, 
of what he terms "an ancient Swede towards the end of 
the heathen era;" it is of the long-headed race, and he men- 
tions that this is one of the common forms of head among the 
modern Swedes; and both he and Nilsson classify all the heads 
found in northern tumuli into — first, the oldest, with square- 
shaped heads like the Laplanders, found along with tools, and 
hunting or fishing tackle of stone or bone; second, the long- 
headed race, always accompanied with metallic implements, and 
which race they considered to be Celtic ; and the third, an oval 
form, also accompanied by metals. 

It would extend this ethnographical notice, which is in- 
tended chiefly for the popular reader, to too great a length, to 
detail the various other kinds of ancient burial found in 
northern countries, but we may remark upon one form of an- 
cient grave found there, of which we have no example in 
this country, and that is the T-formed or hammer-shaped, of 
which it would appear there are a vast number, some of great 
size, and containing many skeletons, generally lying at full 
length, but sometimes placed in a doubled-up or sitting pos- 
ture, like those of the ancient Peruvians. These sepulchres 
are, like that at New Grange or Dowth, formed of huge stones, 
placed on end, and roofed with immense flags, but not dome- 
roofed ; neither are the basement stones arranged in circles like 
our's : the lines are nearly always parallel. 

"We now turn to the Irish heads again, and with them to the 
second form of burial, the cromlech, where the stone chamber 
under the centre of a mound is not approached by a passage as 
in the pyramidal structures at Grange, Dowth, or Rush, and con- 
tains one or more skeletons placed in a horizontal or recumbent 
posture. This is not the place to discuss the old question of 
the purpose of cromlechs ; the opinion of their being altars seems 
to have completely given way to their sepulchral use and origin ; 
and chiefly from the discovery and accurate investigation of a 
tumulus at Knockmaroon, in the Phoenix Park, near Dub- 
lin, by a committee of the Royal Irish Academy, in 1838.* 
Within this stone chamber two perfect male skeletons were 

* The stone vault, or chamber, of a similar one, is now preserved in our 
Zoological Gardens. 



THE LONG-HEADED IRISH RACE. 



229 



found in a recumbent posture, and also the tops of the thigh 
bones of another, and a single bone of an animal, supposed to 
be a dog. Immediately under each skull was found collected 
together a number of small sea shells (the Nerita litoralis), 
which evidently formed a necklace; and a small fibula of bone, 
precisely similar to those found in Denmark, and a small flint 
arrow-head, were likewise discovered in this kistvaen. Within 
the mound which formed this sepulchre, but not within 
the tomb, were found four urns of baked clay, containing in- 
cinerated human bones. The two heads found in this sepul- 
chre are, perhaps, the most perfect of their kind in existence ; 
they are chiefly characterized by their extreme length from 
before backwards, or what is technically termed the antero- 
posterior diameter, and the flatness of their sides ; and in this 
and most other respects they correspond with the second form 
of head discovered in the Danish sepulchres, but different 
from it ; these long-headed aborigines of Ireland, and indeed 
we may say all our skulls discovered in sepulchres of un- 
doubted heathen times, are never found in connexion with 
metallic substances, but only with stone, bone, shell, or baked 
clay ornaments, weapons, or implements. 

These skulls, 
one of which is ex- 
hibited in this re- 
presentation, pre- 
sent the same 
marked charac- 
ters in their facial 
aspect, and the 
projecting occi- 
put and promi- 
nent frontal sin- 
uses, as theDanish 
ones. The nose, 
in common with 
all the truly Irish 

heads we have examined, presents the most marked pe- 
culiarities, and evidently must have been very prominent. 
With this we have evidences of the teeth having been slightly 
projecting, and the chin small, square, well-marked, and 
also prominent ; so that on the whole this race must have pos- 




230 ANCIENT CRANIA OF ENGLAND AND ETRURIA. 

sessed peculiarly well-marked features, and a shrewd, intelligent 
physiognomy. The forehead is low, but not retreating. The 
molar teeth are remarkably ground down upon their crowns, 
probably from long trituration of farinaceous food, and the 
attachments of the temporal muscles are exceedingly well- 
marked. It may be asked, do the characters exhibited in those 
skulls express the general appearance of a peculiar people, — 
were they not accidental varieties ? No ; we have already ex- 
amined too many heads of a like character to be mistaken on 
this point; and, moreover, although we find every variety of 
head among the modern mixed races of civilised countries, 
when we come to examine primitive people, or savage tribes, 
we find the character of their crania and general physical con- 
dition more and more stereotyped as we recede from civiliza- 
tion. 

Four years ago, while passing through the museum of Guy's 
Hospital, our eye lighted on a pair of heads lying in a remote 
corner, which we at once claimed, from their exceeding length, 
&c, as fellow-countrymen. Through the kindness of our friend, 
Mr. Dalrymple, we have received casts of these skulls, together 
with the following account of them. They were discovered, 
along with fifteen entire skeletons of both sexes and various 
ages, in 1821, in a great tumulus near Denley, in Gloucester- 
shire ; they were placed in several chambers beneath the cairn, 
which was 120 feet in length. Some bones of the wild boar, 
and two flint axe-heads, were also found in the tomb, but no 
remains of metals.* 

* For an account of an ancient tumular cemetery recently discovered at 
Laurel Hill, near York, see Dr. Turnham's paper in the Proceedings of the 
Yorkshire Philosophical Society for June, 1848. 

While examining the splendid collection of heads in the museum of anatomy 
in the Jardin du Roi at Paris, in 1840, along with the late distinguished Dr. 
William Edwards, two skulls, without labels or any marks to denote their loca- 
lity or race, were presented to us. These, from their peculiarly long form, we at 
once pronounced to be ancient Irish. A laugh being raised at this surmise, 
and Mons. Laurillard, the Curator, not being able to give any account of them, 
Mr. Pentland, who presented them, was written to, and his answer informed 
us that they were found in Etruscan tombs of the very oldest date, which 
were opened in 1828, near Sarteano ; and that with these heads were also found 
a number of antique vases. How far this supports the peculiar theory of Sir 
William Betham, we cannot take upon us to decide ; but with the similarity 
of form which these skulls presented to the most ancient Irish and Norwegian, 
we were instantly struck. 



THE GLOBULAR-HEADED IRISH RACE. 231 

Now we find conditions of head and feature similar to both 
the early Irish races still existing among the modern in- 
habitants of this country, particularly beyond the Shannon, 
towards the west, where the dark or Firbolg race may still be 
traced, as distinct from the more globular-headed, light-eyed, 
fair-haired, Celtic people who lie to the north-east of that river. 
Strange to say, the skull of Swift exhibits most of the pecu- 
liarities of this early race, though, as most people assert, he 
was not of Irish descent ; and any one who has examined the 
old skulls found in the ancient burial-grounds either in Con- 
naught or in Kerry, must have been struck with the appear- 
ances which we have now described. 

We next come to the third form of burial, containing the 
relics of the second race of people ; for of the first, or those 
found in the pyramidal structures with the stone passages, we 
have not seen the remains, and therefore cannot speak as to their 
form. The vault in which the remains of this second race are 
generally found is usually beneath the surface, a kistvaen, or 
small stone chamber, roofed either with a single flag, or covered 
in with that form of arch resembling a bee-hive dome. There is 
no tumulus or heap of earth to mark the site of these sepulchres, 
several of which have been turned up with the plough. Within 
this small square vault the bones are generally placed in a 
regular manner, the small ones at the bottom, the long ones, 
as the legs and arms, at the top, and the whole is crowned 
with the skull. One of these was found a few years ago in the 
neighbourhood of Dublin; it is much better proportioned, 
higher, more globular, and in every respect approaches more to 
the highest forms of the Indo-European variety of the Cauca- 
sian race, than either of the foregoing. It is said, but, we 
believe, upon very questionable authority, that metallic wea- 
pons and instruments have been found in connexion with this 
foim of burial. 

That most beautiful cranium figured upon the next page was 
presented to us by our friend Mr. O'Donovan, and we fear not 
to assert that in symmetry and general development it comes 
up to some of the finest Grecian models, though the general 
capacity of the head is small ; but it may have belonged to a 
small race or a small individual. The small stone chamber in 
which this skull was found, five years ago, was situated in the 
outer circle or breast -work of a rath, within 150 yards of the 



232 



IRISH URN-SEPULTURE. 



south side of the Eock of Dun-Masg, or Dunamase, in the 
Queen's County. Close by the side of the skeleton was found 
a cinerary urn, with 
one exception the 
most beautiful of 
its kind, either in 
design or execu- 
tion, ever disco- 
vered in this coun- 
try* 

The fourth and 
last form of burial 
is what may be 
termed the urn se- 
pulchre, in which 
we have manifest 
traces of the burn- 
ing of the bodies 
having taken place ; 
but to what age or 
to what people in particular we are to refer this ancient hea- 
then rite, cannot, we think, be determined ; for the cinerary urn, 
containing the remains of burned human bones, has been found 
not only as a separate and distinct form of burial, but also in 
connexion with the cairn, the cromlech, and the kistvaen or 
small stone chamber. Moreover, we have instances of bones 
being found partially or completely burned in some of the 
larger sepulchres, without any trace of the urn whatsoever. 
Urns containing human remains have been long known in this 
country, and were first well described by Molyneux, whose 
remarks upon them have since been copied by Harris into 
Ware's, and most of the publications that treat of the antiqui- 
ties of Ireland. In June, 1842, Mr. J. Huband Smith com- 
municated to the Royal Irish Academy a description of the 
recent discovery of a vast number of cinerary urns at the " Hill 
of Eath," within a few miles of Drogheda. In the progress of 
working a quarry at the foot of the hill a farmer discovered 




* The most beautiful urn of its kind ever found in Gi'eat Britain, either in 
design or execution, is that small, echinus- shaped urn, with an ear or handle, 
lately found in the county of Carlow, near Bagnalstown, and which we de- 
scribed in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy for January 10, 1848. 



IRISH URN SEPULTURE. 233 

from 150 to 200 urns of unbaked clay, of various sizes, almost 
all placed in an inverted position, and each of them covering a 
considerable quantity of human bones. " They were placed, 
apparently without any regularity, about two or three feet 
asunder, and having been imbedded in yellow clay, without 
any flags or stones to protect them, had, in most cases, been 
pressed in and broken to pieces by the superincumbent earth." 
Some of the urns were very large. We have carefully examined 
the contents of one; they bear evident marks of fire, and 
consist of the bones of several individuals, as well as bones of 
birds, and a small animal of the dog kind. In another urn was 
found a flint arrow-head and a small bone needle.* 

The second circumstance under which we find cinerary urns 
is in connexion with the cromlech ; and the third, with the small 
stone kist : an example of the first of which was well shown in 
the tumulus in the Phoenix Park, where four sepulchral vases, 
containing ashes and burned bones, were found throughout 
the tumulus, enclosed in small separate stone chambers, but 
not within the cromlech itself; whereas in the third form, as 
in the kist at Dunamase, the vase is found in immediate con- 
nexion with the body, and within the chamber. To what pe- 
riod, or to what particular people these urns belong, it is diffi- 
cult to determine, for we find them with nearly every form of 
burial among our ancient people. The condition of their con- 
tents determines the point as to the ancient people of this 
country burning their dead ; but whether as a sacrificial or 
funereal rite we leave to the antiquarians to determine. This 
we may remark, that where found by themselves, as at the 
" Hill of Eath," they appear to have been funereal, while the 
circumstance of an urn containing human burned bones being 
placed within the tumulus or beside the body, the skeleton of 
which has been found perfect in all its parts, and therefore none 
of it subject to the action of fire, leads one to suppose that the 
person whose ashes the urn contains was sacrificed to the manes 
of the individual for whose body the tumulus or stone chamber 

* It is said that a thin scale of copper was also found in one of the urns ; 
but we think that the way in which this got there is very questionable, and by 
no means proves that the people who placed these urns in this ancient burial- 
place had any acquaintance with the use of metals. A somewhat similar 
collection of urns, occurring at Loughanmore, in the county of Antrim, has been 
described by the same gentleman, but the description of the former will here 
suffice. Why does not some industrious antiquary write a paper on our Irish 
urns ? The materials for it are most abundant. 



234 THE MIXED FORM OF IRISH SEPULTURE. 

was originally erected. At all events we may safely assert, 
that burning the body and collecting the bones into an urn, 
was one of the earliest rites of the ancient Irish. It is also 
well established that both birds and dogs were interred, burned 
and unburned, with these remains, for their bones are con- 
stantly found with the human ones. 

The Eev. Dr. Walsh has recorded an instance at Kilbride, 
in the county of Wicklow, where a stone coffin was discovered 
in a wild and solitary part of the mountain, and just large 
enough to contain a small urn, which was inverted over two 
small bones belonging to human fingers and toes, and no other 
part of the body 1 We are indebted to R. C. Walker, Esq., 
who has opened a great number of tombs in this country, 
for an account of a most interesting examination which he 
made of some tumuli in the county of Sligo, a celebrated 
locality for sepulchral remains, particularly those of the Fir- 
bolgs. Mr. Walker informs us that one kist or tomb, which 
contained the remains of a great number of skeletons, some 
evidently burned, and others exhibiting no trace of fire, occu- 
pied the centre of a large cairn. Some idea may be formed 
of the magnitude of this great kist when it is known that one 
of the stones which formed the side of it was sixteen feet in 
length, and about six feet in breadth. In this tomb were found 
six different human interments, which occupied the eastern 
and western ends, the centre part being unoccupied. The 
bones were not contained in urns, but were collected together 
into small heaps that rested upon the " freestone flag," which 
invariably formed the bottom or floor of the inner tomb. The 
large bones, such as the arms, legs, and thighs, covered the 
half-calcined remains of the smaller ones, and the skull sur- 
mounted the little pyramid thus formed. Eound the margin 
of this heap was collected a quantity of the bones of birds, and 
some of the lower mammalia, together with a number of small 
shells, principally the land Helix ; and each of these six inter- 
ments was kept distinct, and surrounded by small freestone 
flags. No weapon or ornament of any kind was discovered in 
this tomb. Here, then, in this very remarkable tumuhis of 
the class denominated " giants' graves," we have remains of 
nearly every form of interment employed by the aborigines of 
this country. 

A. N. Nugent, Esq., opened a sepulchral mound in the neigh- 
bourhood of Portaferry a few years ago. " There was," he writes 



THE MIXED FORM OF IRISH SEPULTURE. 235 

to us, "a circle of large stones, containing an area of about a rood. 
Between each of these stones there was a facing of flat ones, 
similar to the building of our modern fences. The outer coat- 
ing was covered with white pebbles averaging the size of a goose- 
egg, of which there were several cart-loads — although it would 
be difficult to collect even a small quantity at present along the 
beach. "After this was taken away we came to a confused heap 
of rubbish, stones, and clay, and then some large flag-stones on 
their ends, — the tumulus still preserving a cone-shape. In the 
centre we came to a chamber about six feet long, formed by 
eight very large upright stones, with a large flag stone at the 
bottom, on which lay, in one heap of a foot in thickness, a 
mixture of black mould and bones." These bones, some of 
which were kindly iorwarded to us, are all human, and consist 
of portions of the ribs, vertebrae, and the ends of the long 
bones, together with pieces of the skull and some joints of the 
fingers of a full-grown person, and also several bones of a very 
young child ; none of these had been subject to the action of 
fire ; but among the parcel forwarded to us were several frag- 
ments of incinerated or calcined bone, also human. Either 
these latter were portions of the same bodies burned, or they 
belonged to an individual sacrificed to the manes of the person 
whose grave this was ; and we are inclined to think the latter 
is the more probable, from the circumstances under which 
similar remains have been discovered in other localities. This 
tumulus was evidently of very ancient date, long prior to the 
authentic historic period, and was, we should say, erected over 
some person or family of note in their day. There were no urns, 
weapons, or ornaments discovered in connexion with it; but 
our informant states that, in the field in which this barrow was 
opened, there have been, at various times, small stone cham- 
bers or kistvaens discovered, similar to those described at page 
230 ; and in one of these a skull of the long, flat, and narrow 
character, was some time ago dug up. A farmer in the vici- 
nity likewise told Mr. Nugent that, many years ago while 
ploughing in this same field, he turned up a stone chamber of 
the same kind, and that it contained a skull with a portion of 
hair of a deep red colour attached to it. 

Mr. Getty, of Belfast, has been very industrious in the collec- 
tion of ancient Irish remains ; and the Belfast museum at pre- 
sent contains several specimens of old Irish heads. This leads 



236 SKULLS FOUND BENEATH ROUND TOWERS. 

to another locality in which bones of the ancient Irish people 
are said to have been found. We allude to the Round Towers, 
particularly to that lately excavated at Drumbo, in the county 
of Down, beneath which some bones were found. Interest was 
excited by this discovery, from the supposition that these hu- 
man remains would offer some clue as to the origin and uses of 
these monuments, or assist in determining the probable era of 
their erection. The enchanted palace of the Irish round tower 
has, however, been opened for our inspection, and therefore all 
theorizing on the subject is at an end. We were presented at 
the time of the examination with a very beautiful cast of the 
skull found within the round tower of Drumbo ; and the mo- 
ment we saw it we felt convinced that, if it was of a contem- 
poraneous age with the structure beneath which it was found, 
then the Irish round tower was not the ancient building it is 
usually supposed to be ; for, compared with the other Irish heads, 
that skull is of comparatively modern date. Now, nearly all 
the round towers are in connexion with ancient burial-places, 
and that one in particular is so, and one need only dig around 
and without it to find many similar remains. We hear that 
the skeleton was found at full length, imbedded in the clay, 
within the ancient structure. Now, if the round tower 
was erected as a monument over the person whose skeleton 
was found within, the body certainly would not have been 
buried thus in the simple earth, without a vault or stone cham- 
ber, such as the enlightened architects who built the tower 
would be thoroughly 
competent to construct. 
Moreover, we do not 
believe that a skull 
thus placed loosely in 
the earth, without any 
surrounding chamber, 
would have remained 
thus perfect for the 
length of time which 
even the most modern- 
izing antiquaries assign 
as the date of the round tower. 

Here, however, is a drawing of a Danish head of undoubted 
authenticity, for which we are much indebted to the Rev. Dr. 




REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH RACE. 237 

Spratt, of this city. We believe it to be that of Donatus, 
the first Danish Archbishop of Dublin, who died (according 
to Sir James Ware) in 1074, and was buried in Christ Church; 
and it also has the peculiar length in its antero-posterior 
diameter to which we have referred. 

At Larne, in the county of Antrim, a skeleton was lately 
discovered, which, from the iron sword and other weapons in 
connexion with it, appeared to have been that of a Templar ; and 
similar remains were not long since discovered at Kilmainham. 
This Templar's skull, found at Larne, although it has an Irish 
physiognomy, and a Firbolg form of head, cannot be dated 
back farther than the eleventh or twelfth century. 

Wehavetwo instances recorded of human remains found in the 
bogs of Ireland; one of these, the mummy of which is now in the 
Eoyal Dublin Society House, was discovered in a bog, nine or ten 
feet beneath the surface. When first exhumed the body was 
perfectly fresh, and enclosed in a dress not unlike that in the 
description given of Gurth in Ivanhoe, — consisting of a tunic of 
cow-hide, apparently tanned, but with some remains of hair still 
preserved on the side worn next the skin. This dress is joined 
in the most accurate and beautiful manner, exhibiting an ex- 
traordinary perfection in the art of sewing. The hair on the 
head, which is both long and fine, is of a dark brown colour, 
and the skull is compressed in a remarkable manner, owing to a 
portion of the earthy matter having been removed by the acid 
of the bog. The body of a man was found under precisely 
similar circumstances by Mr. E. C. Walker, but it is evidently 
of more recent date, perhaps not older than the time of Eli- 
zabeth ; for the dress, which is of woollen texture, and still 
quite perfect, is precisely that represented in Walker's Irish 
Bards. 

Of the modern race it is not our province here to speak ; those 
of our readers who have followed us in the description of the an- 
cient races will recognise among the true Irish of our own time 
distinct traces of the long-headed, dark-haired, black- visaged, 
swarthy aborigines or Gothic Firbolgs, and also (for they are 
very numerous) the oval or globular-headed, fair-haired, light- 
coloured, blue or grey-eyed Celtae, or Tuatha De Danaan. But 
the present Irish race is very mixed ; even those with genuine 
Irish names, the O's and Mac's, exhibit the greatest diversity. 
Finally, we may add that there can now be little doubt that the 



238 HUMAN REMAINS IN BATTLE-FIELDS. 

same early race, whose heads exhibit the two forms which we 
have figured at pages 229 and 231, inhabited, long before the 
date of written history, Ireland and Great Britain, Sweden, Den- 
mark, and the north-west of Europe generally, together with 
the ancient Etruria, and perhaps the central parts of Germany 
also ; at least one or two specimens of ancient crania which we 
examined at Halle and Berlin lead to these conclusions. We have 
had an opportunity of examining some skulls of the Guanches or 
ancient people of the Canary Archipelago, found byM. Bertilot 
in TenerifFe, and they presented precisely similar characters. 
In Denmark and Sweden, however, the order of these remains 
appears to be reversed, for there the long-headed race is found 
in connexion with metallic instruments ; and this appears to 
go far to show that the first great wave of population passed 
from this country towards the north, and that the original 
people who, in Ireland, knew only the use of stone and bone 
weapons, by the time they migrated into Denmark, carried 
with them the knowledge of metals, — gained, perhaps, from 
their Celtic conquerors. 

To the skulls and human remains found in connexion with 
sepulchral monuments alone can we assign a positive date, and 
therefore it is that in the foregoing description we have confined 
our remarks to those found under such circumstances, and have 
figured them as typical forms. But we sometimes find human 
remains in connexion with certain antiquities which serve to 
fix their date, and sometimes upon battle-fields, the date of 
the actions of which has been recorded in history ; and the cra- 
nia found under these circumstance have been partially pre- 
served, and many of them we have had an opportunity of 
examining. In that great collection of animal remains and 
antiquities, found at Dunshaughlin some years ago, one 
perfect, and fragments of two other human skulls were disco- 
vered. They partake of the characters of the long-headed 
race, and the antiquities found in that collection would lead us 
to believe that the persons to whom those skulls belonged 
lived about the tenth century. And in the collection of bones 
and antiquities found in the vicinity of Navan, which we have 
described at page 135, and which must have belonged to a 
much later period, as we know by an examination of the 
antiquities, a skull which was there dug up evidently par- 
takes of the character of the long-headed race, but it is 



SAXON COINS FOUND WITH SKULLS IN IRELAND. 239 

of a more globular form than those found in ancient Pagan 
tumuli, as if intermixture of races had modified the peculia- 
rities of the crania, from the elongated to the true globular or 
Tuatha De Danaan. And again at the Ford of Kinnafad, we 
have shown at pp. 38-40, that the skulls and skeletons of both 
races, as well as the weapons which were probably employed 
by each, were discovered. The fragments of heads found in 
the great cairn at Dowth belonged to the long-headed race. 
Last month (July, 1849), four skeletons were found in 
the rocky cliffs above Redbay, near Cushendall, county of An- 
trim. Through the kindness of a friend we possess one of the 
skulls of these skeletons; it partakes of most of the characters 
of the long-headed race, but it is somewhat greater in capacity, 
and approaches the globular form more than those found in 
the ancient sepulchres of Pagan times. Now what adds parti- 
cular interest to these human remains is, that a small stone 
celt or hatchet, and two bronze celts, were found along with 
them; these weapons enable us to form some conjecture of the 
probable age of the skulls, and also show that the bronze and 
stone weapons were used at the same time in this country : but 
that which fixes the date of the interment of these skeletons 
was the discovery of two small Saxon silver coins of the early 
part of the ninth century.* 

From the foregoing observations it is manifest not only that 
two separate races, the earliest characterized by very long 
heads, and who were probably the Firbolgs, or first colonizers, 
and the other by more globular and capacious skulls, and who, 
it would appear, were the Tuatha de Danaan, the conquerors of 
the former, existed in this country prior to the Christian era ; 
but that both races subsequently existed together, and probably 
amalgamated. Skulls exhibiting both characters may be ob- 
served among the present truly Irish inhabitants, but that the 
more we approach the south and west the more do the former 
predominate, both in the existing inhabitants, and in the crania 
found in ancient burial-places. 

It would not suit the present work to enter into a more 

* Mr. J. Huband Smith, the kind friend who procured us this skull, informs 
us that one of them is a coin of Berhtulf, engraved by Ruding (see vol. i. p. 120, 
and vol. iii. plate 7, No. 3), who was King of Mercia, A. D. 839 ; and the other 
is a coin of Ceolnoth, who is stated to have been Archbishop of Canterbury, 
A. D. 830. See Ruding, vol. ii. p. 182, and vol. iii. plate 13, No. 7. 



240 ADVICE TO TOMB-OPENERS. 

minute and anatomical description of these crania than that 
contained in the foregoing observations. 

The subject of the ethnology or physical history of the 
early Irish people having been thus opened, we hope it will 
not be allowed to rest here, but that many investigators in 
this fertile field of research will appear. It is only from an 
examination of a great number of skulls the truth can be eli- 
cited, or proper inferences drawn; a single skull is of very little 
value to any person ; and we therefore hope to see our national 
collection at the Royal Irish Academy increased from day to day 
by those persons who have become possessed of human remains. 

To those who may be engaged in opening ancient tumuli, 
or who may be accidentally present at such examinations, 
we would offer the following word of advice. First, note 
accurately the bearings of the mound, grave, tumulus, or 
kistvaen, which has been accidentally discovered, or may be 
about to be opened. Find out the name of the townland, 
as well as the name of the immediate locality in which it is 
situated. Observe accurately the position of the skeleton, 
whether lying at length, placed in a sitting or crouching at- 
titude, or whether the bones" appear to have been collected 
together after they were denuded of the flesh, &c. ; and pro- 
cure, if possible, drawings of the position of the bones. These 
bones are remarkably fragile, and should be handled with great 
care. Should urns be found in connexion with these remains, 
either in the sarcophagus itself, or in small stone boxes placed 
around it, their position should be noted, and their contents 
carefully examined. In many instances within our own know- 
ledge, these urns have been wantonly destroyed by the people 
who found them. Their value should, therefore, be explained 
to the peasantry. 

In conclusion, let us add, that if this essay may be the means 
of showing the value that ought to attach to our ancient hu- 
man remains, and of saving such as may be subsequently dis- 
covered, from either the destruction or the oblivion to which 
they have heretofore been consigned, one of the chief objects 
of introducing it here shall have been obtained.* 

* The description of the two forms of skulls, and the details of the various 
ancient modes of burial, were first broached at the Eoyal Irish Academy, and 
afterwards (in 1844) given at a lecture at the Irish College of Physicians; 
see page 41. 



241 



CHAPTER X. 



THE BATTLE-FIELD OF OLDBREDGE.— DROGHEDA. 



THE BOYNE IN LOUTH.— THE CAMPAIGN OF 1690.— DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE-FIELD OF OLD- 
BRIDGE.— POSITION OF THE LRISH ARMY.— THE KILL OF DONOEE.— POSITION OF THE ENGLISH 
ARMT.— THE KING'S GLEN.— PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF THE FIRST OF JULY.— WOUNDING OF 
KING WILLIAM.— THE BATTLE OF ROSSNAREE.— TURNING OF THE LEFT WING OF THE IRISH 
ARMY.— THE PASSAGE OF THE BOYNE.— DEATH OF SCHOMBERG.— THE FIGHT UPON DONORE.— 

' THE RETREAT TO DULEEK.— WHAT EFFECTS HAVE FOLLOWED.— NEW BALLAD OF THE 
BOYNE WATER.— DROGHEDA ; ITS EARLY HISTORY ; ITS ANTIQUITIES ; ITS WALLS.— ST. LAU- 
RENCE'S AND THE WEST GATE.— ST. MARY'S CHURCH.— THE MAGDALEN STEEPLE.— THE MOUTH 

! OF THE BOYNE.— COLPE.— THE MAIDEN TOWER. 

Below Dowth the banks of the river in many places rise high 
and abrupt from the water's edge, particularly on the left side, 
and the stream is, generally speaking, deep and sullen ; but 
although the scene presents much beauty, it is not easy of 
access; so we must again follow the high road to Drogheda, 
although, in so doing, we miss many a beautiful view, which 
is presented below the wooded heights of Dowth and Farm, 




till we again join the river's bank, at the confines of the county 
of Louth, near Oldbridge, where the Mattock river enters the 
Boyne, and a short distance beyond which we first catch a 

R 



242 THE BATTLE-FIELD OF OLDBRIDGE. 

glimpse of the obelisk and the battle-field of 1690. About a 
quarter of a mile above the " New Bridge" upon the Mattock 
rivulet, on theMeath side, stands the foundations of Proudfoots- 
town Castle, but they scarcely deserve a visit. We now enter 
Louth. Here the road approaches almost to the water's edge, 
and, following a graceful curve, which the stream makes at this 
place, continues so for about half a mile, till we pass the Boyne 
obelisk, which marks the site of the celebrated battle of the 
1st July. The first rapid upon the Boyne occurs here. It is 
now the site of a salmon weir, and the tide comes up as high 
as this. As we pass into this defile the scene becomes truly 
picturesque. Upon the left, the rocky banks of Townley Hall 
demesne, clothed with the most splendid foliage; upon the 
right, the deep meadows and green inches are fringed by the 
woods of Oldbridge; and in the centre, upon a massive rock, 
which juts over the water, rises the obelisk raised to comme- 
morate the passage of the Boyne, when Stuart and Nassau con- 
tended for the crown of these realms. Grander battle-fields, — 
more extensive plains, as that of Waterloo, — or with the moun- 
tains looking upon the sea, as at Marathon, — may easily be 
found ; but for inland sylvan beauty, the diversity of hill and 
dale, with wooded banks, and a shining river, this scene of 
action may well challenge competition. 

We suppose our readers are already acquainted with the po- 
litical events which led to the " Battle of the Boyne," and of 
the details of the campaign, from the time of the landing of 
King William III. to the end of the month of June, 1690; and 
as we have neither space nor desire to discuss the various po- 
litical circumstances which led to this engagement, nor at all 
to enter into the general history of the country prior to this 
event, we shall chiefly confine ourselves to a topographical 
description of the battle-field, not only because it is more im- 
mediately connected with the object of this work, but on 
account of the discrepancies which appear in the writings of 
various authors, from their want of knowledge of this subject. 
And as we approach the spot on which, for the last time 
in Great Britain, the crown of these realms was contested by 
kings in person, it is our duty to present our readers with a 
picture of the scene, and to point out to those who may visit 
the place, the most memorable and best authenticated localities. 

After the Boyne passes the great monument of New Grange, 



THE POSITION AND BEARINGS OF DONORE HILL. 243 

it alters its course, turning towards the north, and, with va- 
rious minor windings, forms a deep curve between that point 
and Drogheda, which is distant about five miles in a direct 
bird line. Having reached Townley Hall, it again turns to 
the south-east, towards Drogheda, and thus completes the 
curve or elbow to which we alluded. Within this bend of 
the river, upon the right or southern bank, the ground rises by 
a succession of smooth and gentle slopes to the hill of Do- 
nore, a conspicuous elevation, crowned by a ruined church, 
and surrounded by a few straggling ash trees. The Boyne 
winds round in front of this hill towards the north, from the 
summit of which it is distant not quite an English mile. To 
the right, or east, the hill fines off towards Drogheda, about 
a mile and a half distant. Its western side abuts upon, and is 
completely protected by the high precipitous banks of the 
Boyne, now covered by the plantations of the demesne of Farm. 
Immediately behind it, towards the south, the way lies open 
to Dublin, along the sea-board line; and toward the south- 
west, situated about three miles from Donore, is Duleek. To the 
extreme north-west lies Slane, between which and Drogheda, 
a distance of about nine miles following the windings of the 
river, there was not at the time of the battle, nor is there yet, 
a bridge. Several fords, however, occur between those two 
points; descending the stream, some weirs, about half a mile 
below Slane, point out the site of ancient fords, but the prin- 
cipal shallow is at Rossnaree, immediately below the monu- 
ments of Knowth and New Grange, about three miles lower 
down than Slane, and something more than that distance 
from the hill of Donore. At the weir, where the tide ends, 
above the entrance of the Mattock river, the Boyne is fordable 
with difficulty, and the right bank rises rather precipitously 
immediately beyond its margin. The river then turns towards 
the south-west, and just below the site now occupied by 
the obelisk, it enlarges considerably, and several islands 
occur in it ; the most extensive of these are Grove Island and 
Yellow Island, the former containing more than five acres, and 
the latter about sixteen. The shallowest ford occurs here; 
an old road leads down to it, and it is passable for a carriage 
and horses, at low water, in summer-time. Immediately op- 
posite this ford, upon the Meath or southern side, stood, in 
1690, the little village of Oldbridge. The locality which we 

R 2 



244 POSITION OF THE IRISH ARMY. 

have now described may, properly speaking, be called the 
battle-field of the 1st of July, a considerable portion of which, 
particularly opposite the fords, is obscured by the plantations 
of the adjoining demesne. 

King James's army, having fallen back towards Leinster, 
passed through Drogheda, and occupied the northern face of 
the hill of Donore, and the sloping ground between that ele- 
vation and the fords near Oldbridge, within the sweep of the 
river already alluded to. The Irish cannon were planted upon 
two elevations commanding the fords, one a little to the south of 
Oldbridge village, which was here intersected by narrow lanes ; 
the other nearly opposite the Yellow Island, on some projecting 
hillocks in advance of the right of the Irish lines ; the latter 
place is now marked by a fir plantation. According to Story's 
map, a third battery was placed opposite the ford, near the 
Mattock river. Some temporary breast- works were also thrown 
up in front of the village.* 

James and his staff took up a position on the summit of 
the elevation, and His Majesty, it is said, slept in the little 
church here the night before the battle. Of this ruin nothing 
now remains but portions of the walls and the east window, 
beneath which, and within the enclosure of the church, we 
find the handsome altar tomb of one of the Synnots. It is 
probable that this church was a ruin in 1690. The view from 
this point commands the entire scene upon the north and east, 
including Drogheda and the mouth of the Boyne. It is a 
lone, deserted spot, seldom visited by the tourist, though 
memorable as the place at which the sceptre passed for ever 
from the last monarch of the royal line of Stuart. 

Upon the left, or Louth bank of the river, a bluff hill, 
sloping off upon its northern face, continues on from Town- 
ley Hall towards Drogheda, intersected here and there by deep, 
narrow defiles, which run down toward the water's edge ; be- 
hind it is the rising ground of Tullyallen. At the end of 
Townley Hall demesne, a deep, narrow gorge, now generally 
known as King William's Glen, opens out upon the river, from 



* From an old French bird's-eye view of the Battle-field, published 
shortly after the action, as well as the tapestry in the Irish House of Lords, 
it would appear that there was, at the time of the action, a small church in 
the village of Oldbridge. 



POSITION OF THE ENGLISH AKMY. 245 

which it is not more than three hundred paces distant, and, 
owing to the circumstance of a projecting brow of the hill 
through which it cuts, as well as its winding direction, the 
view up this valley is completely obscured, so that a whole 
army, of many thousand men, within it, might be screened 
from cannon-shot, and hid from observation, even from the 
eminence opposite. On the high bank above, and to the east 
of this valley, was placed King William's chief battery. 

William and his army marched in two columns from Ardee, 
upon the 30th of June. Having arrived within view of Dro- 
gheda, the position of the Irish encampment, stretching along 
the slopes of Donore, was at once recognised. A person standing 
upon any of the elevations in that neighbourhood, could with 
ease recognise every tent in the Irish camp. The English army 
then turned slightly westward along the northern slope of the 
ridge we have described, and by which it was in a great mea- 
sure concealed from the Irish, and took up its position nearly 
parallel with the Boyne : its right descending into the hollow 
of the King's Glen, and its left resting in another narrow 
ravine, at the eastern extremity of the hill, and very similar 
to the former. It had thus the advantage of being able to 
reach the Boyne in a few minutes through either of those two 
deep, narrow ravines : and William not only had this advantage 
of position, but, while his own army was completely concealed 
from new, every tent in that of his opponent was plainly map- 
ped before him. and many of them within point-blank range of 
his cannon. The English being encamped, and the batteries 
erected, the firing commenced upon both sides, and was con- 
tinued during the greater portion of the day. The old ballad 
says, and perhaps truly : 

; ' King James he pitched his tents between 
The lines for to retire. 
But King William threw his bomb-balls in. 

And set them all on fire." 

It is related, that the Prince of Orange rode with his staff 
along the heights which run parallel with the river. George 
Story, an eye-witness of the scene, relates the following in- 
cident, which we insert, principally because we have been en- 
abled, from a very careful examination of the locality, to de- 
cide upon the exact spot where it occurred. 



246 WHEN AND WHERE KING WILLIAM WAS WOUNDED. 

"His majesty rid on to the pass at Oldbridge, and stood upon 
the side of the bank, within musquet-shot of the ford, there 
to make his observations on the enemies' camp and posture ; 
there stood a small party of the enemies' horse, in a little 
island within the river; and on the other bank, there were 
several hedges, and little Irish houses almost close to the river, 
there was one house likewise of stone, that had a court, and 
some little works about it; this, the Irish had filled with 
souldiers, and all the hedges and little houses we saw, were 
lined and filled with musqueteers; there were also several 
brest- works cast up to the right, just at the ford. However, 
this was the place through which his majesty resolved to force 
his way ; and, therefore, he and his great officers spent some 
time in contriving the methods of passing, and the places 
where to plant our batteries. After some time, his majesty 
rid about 200 yards further up the river, nigh the west of all 
the enemies' camp ; and whilst his army was marching in, he 
alighted, and sate him down upon a rising ground, where he 
refreshed himself; whilst his majesty sate there we observed 
five gentlemen of the Irish army ride softly along the other 
side, and make their remarks upon our men as they marched 
in ; those, I heard afterwards, were the Duke of Berwick, my 
Lord Tyrconel, Sarcefield, Parker, and some, say Lauzun. 
Captain Pownel, of Colonel Levison's regiment, was sent with 
a party of horse and dragoons, towards the bridg of Slane ; 
and whilst his majesty sate on the grass (being about an hour) 
there came some of the Irish, with long guns, and shot at our 
dragoons, who went down to the river to drink, and some of 
ours went down to return the favour, then a party of about 
forty horse advanced very slowly, and stood upon a plowd field, 
over against us, for near half an hour, and so retired to their 
camp ; this small party, as I have heard from their own officers 
since, brought two field-pieces amongst them, dropping them 
by an hedg on the plowd land undiscovered ; they did not offer 
to fire them, till his majesty was mounted; and then, he and 
the rest, riding softly the same way back, their gunner fires a 
piece, which killed us two horses and a man, about 100 yards 
above where the king was ; but immediately comes a second, 
which had been almost a fatal one, for it graized upon the 
bank of the river, and in the rising, slanted upon the king's 



THE SAME STORY FROM ANOTHER AUTHORITY. 247 

right shoulder, took out a piece of his coat, and tore the 
skin and flesh, and afterwards broke the head of a gentleman's 
pistoL" 

\Villiam took, it seems, but little notice of the affair, but 
rode quietlv back into the glen ; the enemy were, however, so 
far deceived, that they raised a great shout, and an express was 
immediately sent off to the Continent, and bonfires, it is said, 
actually lighted in Paris to celebrate the fall of Nassau. 

The place where this accident occurred was on the side of 
a small hillock, by the water's edge, a little below the glen, and 
from which the stones have been taken to build the obelisk 
erected just beside it. 

In one of the editions of the Memoirs of the Duke of Ber- 
wick there is related a curious account of what would ap- 
pear to be the same story, of which the following is an 
outline. The day before the action a considerable number of 
the officers of the Prince of Orange were standing together in 
a group. As it appeared probable that the Prince of Orange 
was one of the number the young Duke of Berwick exclaimed : 
" 'Behold a splendid opportunity for putting an end to this war ! 
TVe must attack that troop and destroy the Prince of Orange.' 
'And who will dare to do it ?' observed some one. ' I, myself,' 
said the Duke; and immediately, followed by a band of officers 
drawn on by his example, he attacked and defeated this very 
troop where he hoped to find the Prince. He looked about in 
search of him in defiance of every danger, but the Prince was 
not there."* This account of a piece of heroism, however, ceases 
to interest us when we remember the fact that at the time 
alluded to the Boyne at fall tide was rolling between the bel- 
ligerents! Of such tales, however, is history, and the history 
of battles in particular, often composed. 

Thus ended the 30th of June, and thus stood the hostile 
armies upon the eve of the engagement. We have written the 
foregoing description of the battle-field from a careful examina- 
tion of the scene, and the perusal of the most trustworthy 
documents within our reach. The exact position of each ge- 
neral's division in either army has not been ascertained with 
certainty, neither has any veritable military plan of the bat- 
ires da Marechal de Berwick, Due et Pair de France, et Gener- 
alL-sime des Armees de Sa Majeste. Tome Premier. A Londres, aux Depens 
de la Compaigne, 1758. pp. 64 



248 MATERIALS FOR A DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE. 

tie ever appeared. The accompanying map we have had en- 
graved from a plan of the battle, made about sixty years ago, 
by a Major Brown, for the Right Hon. John Foster, Speaker 
of the Irish Honse of Commons.* We present it to our readers 
and the tourists to the Boyne because it conveys to our mind 
a much better idea of the scene than either of the two older, 
ill-constructed plans of Story or Richardson. 

Heretofore, the descriptions of the battle of the Boyne 
have been almost all one-sided. The authorities from which 
the historians drew were nearly all Williamite ; but within 
the last few years the gleaners in this department of Irish his- 
tory have had access to documents written by officers in the 
Irish army in every way worthy of credit, and which must 
now induce the calm searcher after truth to very much modify 
some, and altogether reject other statements put forward by the 
former, and which have been generally received as facts. To 
give these latter their fair share of merit, and to weigh and 
discuss the adverse statements of both parties, would not 
suit the intention of the present work, and would require a 
more critical examination of the subject than our space would 
warrant.^ 

* A copy of this document was presented by Viscount Ferrard to the Engi- 
neer's Library, Dublin, in 1829. It is now in the Ordnance Office. For the 
use of it we are much indebted to our friend Captain Larcom, E. E., one of the 
Commissioners of the Board of Works. 

f We feel it the less necessary to enter into a critical examination of the 
history of the battle of the Boyne in this place, because there is a work now 
in process of publication by the Irish Archaeological Society, — " Macarice 
Excidium, or the Destruction of Cyprus," edited by John C. O'Callaghan, 
Esq., Author of " The Green Book," a gentleman of literary acquirements and 
critical research. In the mean time we may refer our readers to the va- 
rious Lives of King William which have appeared: to a continuation of 
the impartial History of the Wars of Ireland, &c, London, 1793, written 
by " George Story, chaplain to the regiment formerly Sir Thomas Gour's, 
now the Earl of Drogheda's," who appears to have been himself at the 
battle of the Boyne, and whose statements, until they are contradicted by 
irreproachable evidence, must, as far as mere matters of fact, be received 
as historic evidence. A Captain John Richardson, who was an " eye-wit- 
ness of the scene," published a plan of the battle, to which is appended 
a short account of the engagement. The second edition of the Green 
Book, by Mr. O'Callaghan, should be consulted by those wishing to make a 
minute inquiry into the history of the battle. The Memoirs of the Duke of 
Berwick and the Memoirs of King James II. should also be examined, and 
their statements carefully compared with writers on the other side of the ques- 









§ 


- \ 





Castle, 




A JSn^ Williams March 
B English, Camp. 
C Irish Camp. 

DjMareh ofl^ (ren^jDouglas'3 brigade 
E Left, wing of Irish Army 
E The, Dutch, crossing the, ford.. 
G- Xhe-Hrencli &. Enriis kzlleners D ° 
B. Sir JohrhSaTUTver & Cozcnl 2Ias 
I The Danes & Colonel Cats D° 
J£ Lang HxLHam & the Cavalry of left wing ID? 
1 Several, Carps of the. Ins A 
It S econd position of tlie. -Irish 
X Third, A last position of the, Irish 
O Last attack, of iking Williams ^Irrruj . 
P Left -wing of Zrish -Army . 
Q Z^den^ Douglas's attack, . 
X. £ng2ish 
S Irish. 

T The Sp ot -where Zing William, was 
the daii 



Dublin; Published by -bar, 



AMOUNT OF THE ENGLISH AND IRISH ARMIES. 249 

We should like, 'tis true, to fight this battle over again, and 
record the gallant deeds of the O'Neals and Schombergs, — the 
Caillemottes and Sarsfields, — of Berwick, Sidney, Ginkle, 
Geraldine, Hamilton, and others who have left material for 
many a tribute to their fame. But this, at present, is denied us ; 
perhaps some other day we'll try our hand at this " grievous 
battle," so bravely fought by a comparatively young, but expe- 
rienced general, — gallant in the field and wise in council, with 
a highly disciplined army, a part of which had been trained in 
many a hard contested battle, — against a weak and vacil- 
lating prince, advanced in years, and borne down by misfor- 
tunes, neither wise in council nor gallant in action, standing 
in the rere of, but not commanding an army, which, however 
great its devotion, was totally unable to cope with its opponent. 

The army of King William amounted, according to the 
most moderate calculation, to 36,000 men; all well- disciplined 
soldiers ; numbers of them tried veterans, whose prowess 
had been tested and their courage schooled in many a well- 
fought field in Europe; hardy warriors, well-appointed, and 
composed of the greatest number of nations that ever fought 
for or against the crown of England before or since — Danes, 
Dutch, and Flemings, Swiss, French Huguenots, English, 
Anglo-Irish, and Germans, — led by some of the most esteemed 
officers of the day, the Schombergs, Douglas, Sidney, and La 
Mellionere, and commanded by one of the greatest generals of 
the age, personally brave, energetic, and well- skilled in war. To 
this was opposed an army scarcely three and twenty thousand 
strong, a large portion of which, the French excepted, was com- 
posed of raw levies ; undisciplined, and but ill supplied with arms ; 
under generals no doubt brave and skilful, but whose interests 

tion. In 1791 there was printed at Amsterdam a little work styled, " Histoire 
de la Eevolution d'Irlande, arrive sous Guillaume III.," which contains a 
description of the battle of the Boyne, some extracts from which we have given, 
because it has not as yet appeared in English, at least that we are aware of, 
while that by Story has been the principal ground-work for all modern writers. 
We are indebted for the use of this work to our friend Dr. Cane of Kilkenny. 
A portion of the Macarice Excidium, edited by T. Crofton Croker, Esq., has 
been printed by the Camden Society. In the Royal Hospital there is a 
large oil painting of the Battle of the Boyne, and the scene is represented on 
the tapestry still remaining in the House of Lords (in the Bank of Ireland) ; 
there also exists an old mezzotinto engraving of the battle, from an original 
painting by "Wyke, in the possession of the Earl of Leicester. 



250 THE BATTLE OF ROSSNAREE. 

were so constantly clashing that it was with great difficulty 
they could even be brought to act in unison ; and moreover com- 
manded by a Prince whose weakness, imbecility, and bigotry, 
had already lost him a crown, who was totally unskilled in war, 
and whose heart was not in the country nor the cause of the 
men who fought for him. With all their faults the Stuarts 
elicited more loyalty than the world will ever witness again. 
We will not say that James II. was a coward, — he had pre- 
viously shown his bravery upon sea, — but certainly he was 
no general. His defeat here was, however, inevitable. Under 
the circumstances he should not have delayed nor fought at 
the Boyne, where he had got into a most unlucky position, 
the apex of a triangle, one side of which was formed by the sea; 
and when William hemmed him round, defeating him at every 
point, not only by the superior discipline of his troops, which, 
after all, is courage, but by force of numbers and generalship, 
then retreat — flight, was the inevitable, the last resource. 
Looking back at this distance of time, it would appear to have 
been a safer plan for James to have retreated with his small army, 
and have garrisoned the principal fortified towns, and by laying 
waste the country, and destroying, as was intended, the Eng- 
lish fleet in the Channel, thus cut off William's supplies, while a 
guerilla warfare would have greatly harassed and considerably 
diminished his forces. James cared nothing for Ireland nor the 
Irish, except so far as they could be made use of to secure him 
the crown of England ; he also hoped that a counter-revolution 
would have been got up in his favour in England, and that 
the King of France would have lent him asssistance. This, 
however, is not the place to discuss these subjects further. 

There is one point in the battle of the Boyne on which suffi- 
cient stress has not been laid, although it would appear to 
have a greater influence on the issue of the fight than histo- 
rians are aware. The right wing of the Irish army was com- 
pletely protected by Drogheda, the Boyne, and the sea ; its left 
towards Slane was unprotected: this could not escape the notice 
of a skilful opposing general, neither was it unknown to some 
of the advisers of King James, although he himself does not 
appear to have paid sufficient attention to it. At break of day 
upon the morning of Tuesday, the 1st of July, William de- 
spatched 10,000 men under the younger Schomberg, General 
Douglas, and Lord Portland, to cross the river at the fords, 



THE PASSAGE AT OLDBRIDGE. 251 

near Slane, of the existence and passability of which he appears 
to have been well informed. Proceeding behind the hill, now 
included in the demesne of Townley Hall, and crossing the Mat- 
tock river at Monk-Newtown, they were concealed from the 
Irish until they appeared on the elevated banks near Knowth, 
above the ford of Kossnaree, where it would appear the cavalry 
crossed with scarcely any opposition, except from the regiment 
of Sir NealO'Neale, who himself was killed in the skirmish. The 
foot passed round by the bridge of Slane, two miles farther off, 
but joined the English cavalry before a sufficient force could 
have been despatched by James to oppose them. Here then 
was an army, nearly half the size of that of King James, ad- 
vancing upon the left wing of the latter, and then it was (for 
William was informed, by express, of Douglas having made 
good his position) that the passage of the Boyne at Oldbridge 
was commenced at half-past ten o'clock, a. m., while the left 
wing of the Irish army was already engaged two miles off with 
the division under Douglas and Count Schomberg. 

We have already remarked upon the admirable position of 
the English army, protected by the immense battery imme- 
diately opposite the ford, and screened by the natural lie of 
the ground. The tide being out, the passage of the river was 
attempted in four different places. The Blue Dutch guards, 
the Irish Enniskilleners, and the French Huguenots, led by 
the gallant old Schomberg, passed quickly out of the little 
glen opposite the principal ford, and dashing into the water 
both there and over the upper end of Grove Island, a little 
lower down, formed upon the opposite side, and carried the 
village and rude out- works at Oldbridge ; not, however, with- 
out considerable opposition, some of the Irish soldiers rushing 
into the water to meet them. It was here Schomberg, then 
Duke of Leinster, was killed.* The principal Irish battery, 
very much inferior in numbre and calibre of guns to the Eng- 
lish, placed upon a slight rising ground, nearly opposite the 
lower end of the Yellow Island, does not appear to have done 

* Schomberg's body was immediately carried back across the river, to the 
English camp. His skull is still shown in the cathedral of St. Patrick's, where 
Dean Swift caused a monument to be erected to him. The family vault of the 
Schombergs is in the cathedral of Mayence. The heart of James II. was em- 
balmed, and is now in a shrine in a small chapel on one side of Champs Elysees 
in Paris. 



252 THE RETREAT TO DULEEK. 

much execution. The third crossing was made by the Danes 
and Germans, at a shallow between the two principal islands, 
where the water must have been up to their arm-pits, while 
the left wing, entirely composed of cavalry, consisting chiefly 
of Danes and Dutch, passed or swam across opposite the eastern 
valley which intersects the hill of Tully alien, and effected a land- 
ing, apparently with little opposition, at a very deep and dan- 
gerous part of the river, nearly opposite one of the Irish bat- 
teries, and where the margin of the stream is wet and swampy. 
Here it was, however, that William himself, with his arm in a 
sling from the effects of his wound, plunged into the stream, 
with Colonel Woolstey, and passed with great difficulty, " for 
his horse was bogg'd on the other side, and he was forced to 
alight, till a gentleman help'd him to get his horse out." 

Thus, then, there were six and twenty thousand men, with a 
large battery, arrayed against fifteen or sixteen thousand, for we 
must subtract those already engaged, under Lauzun, towards 
Slane, nearly three miles off. The natural consequences fol- 
lowed : the Irish centre and right wing fell back upon Donore, 
and finally, towards the close of the day, retreated in tolerable 
order to Duleek, towards which place the left wing, already 
beaten above Rossnaree, had retired. Here, with the Nanny 
Water between them, both parties halted for the night, with 
the exception of King James, who fled to Dublin, which he 
reached about ten o'clock, so that he must have left the battle- 
field between six and seven o'clock in the evening. 

The numbers killed at the battle of the Boyne were not 
considerable. On the Irish side the number killed was upwards 
of a thousand, and upon the English above four hundred. The 
orange and green have long been party words in Ireland ; — are 
our readers aware of the fact, that while the Irish troops wore 
pieces of white paper in their caps, every English soldier was 
decorated with a branch of green? 

Thus ended the battle of the 1st of July, 1690, the cause of so 
much subsequent party feud and so many heart-burnings in this 
country. To the one party it gave victory; liberty, civil and 
religious ; broad lands, power, and dominant sway : while 
the other suffered not only present defeat, but subsequent 
confiscation, penal laws, exile. Since then the fierce ad- 
vocate of one party has cursed, "bell, book, and candle- 
light," the Williamite and the Orangeman; and the defender 



SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. 253 

of the other has, upon bare, bended knees, pronounced a ma- 
lediction (which, for sentiment and strength of language, 
is unsurpassed in the cursings of ancient or modern times) 
upon all who would not drink the " Battle of the Boyne," 
and the pious memory of the man who first robbed Ire- 
land of her manufactures, and signed the warrant for the 
massacre of Glencoe ! Times, however, are changing, let us 
hope for the better ; mutual asperities are softening down ; 
prejudices of birth, of religion, so-called, of education and 
position, are happily being removed ; men can now calmly dis- 
cuss those subjects without passion or without offence. The 
memory of " The Boyne Water" must be dear to every Irish 
Protestant — every lover of Protestant liberty ; let him drink 
it, if so minded, but couple not with it the idol of College- 
green. 

Had the Scotch Royalists and Lowlanders been allowed to 
celebrate the anniversary of the victory of Culloden, in pro- 
cessions, with flags flying, drums beating, fifes playing, " in the 
teeth" of the Highlanders, whose forefathers bled for Charles 
Edward, Scotland would not be the happy, prosperous country 
it is to-day. 

As the little work already alluded to in the note at 
p. 248, " Histoire De la Revolution d'Irlande, arrivee sous 
Guillaume III.," is not generally known, we extract the fol- 
lowing notice of some facts connected with the Battle of the 
Boyne from it. It is evidently written in support of the Wil- 
liamite side of the question, but it seems tolerably correct. 

King William, it says, advanced at break of day towards 
Drogheda and the River Boyne, along which King James's 
army was encamped, in order to prevent the English crossing 
the river. The infantry and artillery did not arrive until 
very late, so that nothing could be done by King William 
that day, except to reconnoitre the enemy's position, and to try 
and find out the fords by which a passage could be effected, 
for haste was now very necessary. This work then gives an 
account of the wounding of King William the day before the 
battle by a six-pound shot, but it adds little to the account of 
that transaction already related : "As soon as the king's wound 
was dressed, he again took horse, and acted for four hours more 
before retiring to his tent, and resolved to cross the river with 



254 THE DEATH OF SCHOMBERG. - 

his army the next day. On the evening of the same day on 
which His Majesty was wounded, he ordered Count Menard de 
Schomberg, with the cavalry of the right wing, two regiments 
of dragoons of the left wing, the infantry brigade of Trelaw- 
ney, and five small field-pieces, to go next morning to a ford 
known to be about three miles higher up than the camp, to 
try and pass it, and to take the enemy in flank, or compel them 
to retire. The Count Schomberg having passed the night in 
giving orders and disposing of the army for the passage, ad- 
vanced early in the morning to this ford, and found on the 
other side of it eight squadrons of the enemy drawn up to op- 
pose his passage. He entered the river with his troops and 
crossed to the other side, and attacking the enemy roughly, 
routed them and disposed his troops in battle array, intending 
to march against the enemy at the first order of the King, who 
was immediately informed of his position, in order that he 
should in other places attack the army of King James, lest all 
the enemy should fall on him (Schomberg). The King then 
sent word to the Count that he was going to cross over to the 
other side with the rest of his army." 

The account of the passage at Oldbridge is nearly the same 
as that given by Story. Regarding the death of Duke Schom- 
berg, he writes : " This brave general had crossed one of the 
first, being only preceded by the regiment of La Mellonniere, 
which had roughly repulsed the enemy. The Duke had crossed 
over to a village very near the river in order to pursue them. 
Unfortunately Tyrconnel's guards, taken by a desperate fury, 
charged this regiment with such impetuosity that they brake 
through it, and tried to prevent the crossing of those who were 
still in the water, but the greater part of them having been 
cut down, and the few remaining being unable to execute their 
purpose, they turned towards the village, where having met 
General Schomberg, they gave him two sabre cuts in the head, 
and, as many reported, a pistol shot. Nevertheless it is certain, 
as it is known to all those who belong to La Mellonniere's re- 
giment, that when it was evident that Tyrconnell's guards 
were running towards that village, the officers commanded the 
fire to be directed that way, and that on all sides the words 
were heard, ' kill, kill ' " [tue, tue.~] So that it is probable 
some shots might have been unwittingly directed towards 



A NEW VERSION OF THE " BOYNE WATER." 255 

the Duke of Schomberg, who was killed by a ball which pene- 
trated his throat, and died soon after without being able to 
utter a word. 

In years gone by the Corporation of Drogheda paid an anni- 
versary visit to the obelisk erected to commemorate the first of 
July,* when they used to drink " the glorious, pious, and im- 
mortal memory" in the waters of the Boyne, and sing — 

" July the first, in Oldbridge town, 
There was" ***** 

No — we'll not finish, but present our readers with the follow- 
ing graphic ballad, which has been forwarded to us by some 
unknown correspondent, to whom we here offer our best 
thanks. As it is, on the whole, for a Williamite ballad, honest, 
spirited, and historically true, we insert it instead of the old 
party song. 

THE BOYNE WATER. 

THE OLD BALLAD KETOUCHED. 

'Twas bright July's first morning clear, 

Of unforgotten glory, 
That made this stream, through ages dear, 

Renown'd in song and story. 
Yet, not her charms on history's page — 

For Nature's own I sought her ; 
And took my pleasant pilgrimage, 

To see the sweet Boyne water. 

Here, musing on these peaceful banks, 

The mind looks back in wonder ; 
And visions rise of hostile ranks, 

Impatient, kept asunder : 
From every land a warrior band — 

For Europe owns the quarrel — 
His hand shall clench no barren branch, 

That snatches this day's laurel. 

All- conquering William — great Nassau! 

Her crown a realm decreed him ; 
And here he vindicates her law, 

And champions here her freedom. 

* There is a long inscription on the base of the obelisk, descriptive of the 
passage of the Boyne, and the death of Schomberg, which took place imme- 
diately opposite, on the other side of the river. 



256 A NEW VERSION OF THE " BOYNE WATER. 

And ne'er let valour lose its meed — 

A foe right nobly banded, 
Though changeless love for king and creed 

With treason's stain be branded. 

Ah, wherefore cannot kings be great, 

And rule with man approving ? 
Or why should creeds enkindle hate, 

And all their precepts, loving ? 
Here, on a cast, land, life, and fame, 

Faith, freedom, — all abide it : 
A glorious stake ! — play out the game, 

Let war's red die decide it ! 

Now strike the tents — the rolling drums, 

Their loud defiance beating, 
Right for the ford brave Schomberg comes, 

And Sarsfield gives him greeting. 
Grenade and musket — hut and hedge 

In flame unintermitting ; 
I' the very sedge, by the water's edge, 

The angry fuse is spitting. 

The banks are steep, the stream is deep, 

The cannon deadly knelling ; 
On man and horse, o'er many a corse, 

Th' impeded tide is swelling ; 
Yet firm, as 'twere some pageant brave, 

To their trumpets' notes advancing ; 
And plumes and pennons proudly wave, 

And their eager swords are glancing. 

With arms held high, and powder dry, 

Fast on the bank they're forming : — 
Shame on those Kerne ! the steeps they fly, 

Should baffle England's storming. 
But stand together — firmly stand ! 

Down the defile, and crushing 
Like loosen'd rocks, to the crowded strand, 

Come headlong squadrons rushing. 

Gallantly done, bold Hamilton ! 

The scared Dane flies before him ; 
What can the Huguenot's pikeless gun 

'Gainst the sabres flashing o'er him ? 
Their leader down — down in his blood — 

And William at a distance 
Unhors'd, but toiling, through the flood 

To back their brave resistance. 



A NEW VERSION OF THE "BOYNE WATER." 257 

And back they go, the unsated foe, 

Still threatening, though retreating. 
Away ! the Walloon broadsword's blow 

Will never need repeating. 
And away together, hilt to hilt, 

Through the frighted hamlet going ; 
The lavish blood, like water spilt, 

In its narrow street- way flowing. 

The heights are carried : far and wide 

Are battle-lines extended ; 
Morass and mound — on every side, 

And at every point defended ; 
A moment well might William halt, 

In front a force so shielded ; 
But prompt th' impetuous assault, 

And post on post is yielded. 

But still the rattle and the roar, 

And flight, and hot pursuing ; 
And Berwick rallies on Donore, 

The conflict fierce renewing. 
No toil too great that wins renown : 

The fight seems still beginning ; 
Proud valour's meed is fortune's crown, 

And that crown is William's winning. 

But where is James ? What ? urged to fly 

Ere quailed his brave defenders ! 
Their dead in Oldbridge crowded lie, 

But not a sword surrenders : 
Again they've found the 'vantage ground ; 

Their zeal is still untiring ; 
As slowly William hems them round 

In narrowing ring still firing. 

O'Neill's upon the English front 

With whirlwind fury wheeling ; 
And, flank or front, where'er the brunt, 

Their stoutest columns reeling : 
Up, Brandenburg ! the bravest yield, 

The hoof they're trodden under : 
On, Inniskillings ! and the field 

Shakes to their tramp of thunder ! 

And through and through the stubborn spears 

Such awful gaps they're cleaving — 
Though Hamilton, still charging, cheers, 

The field's beyond retrieving. 



258 A NEW VERSION OF THE "BOYNE WATER. 

Oh, Hamilton ! a hero now 
O'er prostrate foemen riding : 

A moment more, and where art thou ? 
A foe thy rein is guiding. 

Thy routed comrades crowd the pass ; 

The weak impede the stronger ; 
And terror strikes the yielding mass, 

And the brave are bold no longer. 
Tis done : that beacon of the fight — 

That hope — the crown redeeming ! 
In heaven's sight, in victory's light, 

The English Banner's gleaming ! 

Now, Drogheda, undo thy gate — 

Saint Mary's bells are ringing ; 
The Mill-Mount captives, snatch'd from fate, 

Their grateful hymns are singing : 
From dale and down, from field and fell, 

The sulphurous clouds are clearing ; 
The Boyne, with full but gentle swell, 

In beauty re-appearing. 

But search the field, what friends are lost 

May claim our brief lamenting : 
No victory wanting victory's cost 

Its scenic show presenting. 
Schomberg, the silver-hair'd, is down — 

Caillemotte no trump awaketh — 
And Walker, with his mural crown, 

His last, deep slumber taketh ! 

Well — honour'd be the graves that close 

O'er every bold and true heart ! 
And sorrows sanctified repose 

Thy dust, discrowned Stuart ! 
O'er scenes like these our hearts may ache, 

When calmly we review them — 
Yet each awake its part to take, 

If time should e'er renew them. 

Here from my hand as from a cup 

I pour this pure libation ; 
And ere I drink, I offer up 

One fervent aspiration — 
Let man with man— let kin with kin 

Contend through fields of slaughter — 
Whoever fights, may Freedom win ! 

As then at the Boyne water. 



DROGHEDA. ST. LAURENCE'S GATE. 



259 



Leaving the field of Oldbridge, and passing down the left 
bank of the river, we now approach the last remaining point 
of interest upon the Boyne, the ancient city of Drogheda; if, in- 
deed, our readers can feel much interest in one of the dirtiest and 
most ill-ventilated towns in Ireland ; and yet, though we thus 
express ourselves, Drogheda possesses many objects that pecu- 
liarly attract attention. It is pleasingly as well as most advan- 
tageously situated ; abounds in ruins, and has been intimately 
associated with the history of this country for many centuries. 
Our excellent friend, John D' Alton, has lately written a History 
of Drogheda and its Environs, and to that work we must spe- 
cially refer those among our readers who seek further informa- 
tion upon the subject than the limits of a guide-book can afford. 

The early Irish name of this place, to which we alluded 
at page 202, was Drochat-Atha (the Bridge of the Ford) ; and 
the grave of the. wife of Gobhan, the smith, one of those great 
sepulchral mounds which were rifled by the Danes in the ninth 
century, is the Mill-Mount on which the fortress of Drogheda 
now stands, on the right or 
southern bank of the river. 
In after times the name was 
anglicised Tredagh. 

We already remarked upon 
the landing of St. Patrick in 
432, at Inver Colpe, at the 
Boyne's mouth, upon the 
southern side of the river. 
From that time to 1641, when 
it was besieged by Oliver 
Cromwell, we could trace its 
annals from year to year, 
almost without a break. 

Drogheda was a strongly 
fortified city, and consider- 
able portions of its walls, with 
two of its gates, still remain. 
St. Laurence's Gate, upon the 
northern side of the river, here shown, is one of the finest spe- 
cimens of its kind in Ireland. l ' The walls of Drogheda," writes 
Mr. D' Alton, "extended in their circumference, including the 
breadth of the river, somewhat more than a mile and a half, 
s2 




260 



THE WALLS AND GATES OF DROGHEDA. 



and enclose an area of about sixty-four acres of the old Irish 
measure, the general height being from twenty to twenty-two 
feet, and their thickness from four to six, diminishing toward 
the summit, so as to allow a space of about two feet, with em- 
brasures for the soldiery to act from. In latter times, probably 
after the invention of gunpowder, this space was augmented 
by an addition of three or four feet, supported by columns of 
stone and elliptic arches, on and through which a passage led 
round the town, with doorways through the gates, castles, and 
turrets. The banks of the 
river were also fortified by 
walls and turrets, projecting 
into the water, as appears 
by a painting of Drogheda in 
the hall of Beaulieu House, 
taken in the reign of Charles 
II."* Upon the Meath or 
southern side, the West Gate 
forms a most pleasing and 
picturesque ruin. It appears 
to have been one of the flank- 
ing towers in the original 
town wall, and in one of the 
old maps of this place it is 
called the Butter Gate. The 
groove for the portcullis is 
still quite perfect. There 
were also in ancient times 

several castles here, and the mound from which Cromwell bat- 
tered the town is still shown upon the south-eastern side of 
the river, behind the present poor-house. Several Parliaments 
were held in this town ; the most memorable of these was that 
in which the bill of Sir Edward Poyning, since called "Poyn- 
ing'sLaw," was passed, by which the Irish Parliament was made 
dependent on that of England. 

* See a History of Drogheda with its Environs, and a Memoir of the Dublin 
and Drogheda Railway. By John D' Alton, Esq., Barrister at Law. 1844. 
Vol. i. pp. 88, 89. To which work we must refer our readers for a more de- 
tailed description of Drogheda. In the Dublin Penny Journals there are also 
several accounts of this ancient city and its antiquities. See also Wright's 
Louthiana. 




st. mary's abbey. 



261 



This town contained, according to the last Census, 17,300 
inhabitants. In its sunken position within the last defile of 
the valley of the Boyne, with its narrow, tortuous streets, many 
of which are ascended by steps, and the number of tall spires 
and ancient ruins which rise out of the jumble of houses, it 
bears a resemblance to many continental towns. It is a place 
of considerable trade; and in the river, below the narrow 
bridge, the last upon the Boyne, and the only one in Drogheda, 
may often be seen as many steamers as we find in the Liffey. 
Up to a very recent period several wooden or bird-cage houses, 
like those in Chester and some of the old English towns, existed 
in Drogheda. In one of these it is said Sir Arthur Aston, Go- 
vernor of this town at the time of Cromwell's siege, resided, 
and in this house tradition says King James slept the night he 
arrived in Drogheda, before he encamped at Donore. 

From time immemorial 
Drogheda has been noted 
for its ecclesiastical esta- 
blishments, and the ruins 
of several still remain ; but 
they are, generally speak- 
ing, scarcely approach- 
able, owing to the quan- 
tity of filth by which they 
are surrounded. The most 
remarkable of these ec- 
clesiastical ruins is that 
shown in the accompany- 
ing illustration, the Abbey 
or Church of St. Mary, 
which spans a dirty lane, 
now principally used as a 
stable-yard, behind the 
upper end of West-street. 

One of the most conspi- 
cuous objects in Drogheda 
is the Magdalen Steeple, 
figured on the next page, 
the only remnant of the church of the Dominican friary which 
once stood here. It occupies an elevated position upon the 
northern side of the city, near Sunday's Gate, and is immedi- 




262 



THE MAGDALEN STEEPLE. 



ately adjoining a series of arches pointed out as the remains of 
the town wall. It is now surrounded by the most miserable 
hovels, inhabited by the most wretched portion of the popu- 
lation, and not only is the adjoining locality a disgrace to the 
town, but the very site itself stands more in need of the efforts 
of a Sanitary Commission than any other place that we know 
of in the British dominions. 

As soon as the Corporation 
of Drogheda cleanse their city, 
we hope to conduct the Boyne 
tourists round some of its other 
memorable ruins. 

From Drogheda the tourist 
may visit Duleek, upon the 
Meath, and Termonfecken, 
Monasterboice, and Mellifont, 
upon the Louth side of the 
river. No visiter to this part 
of Ireland who has three hours 
to spare after examining the 
battle-field of Oldbridge, but 
should visit these two latter 
celebrated localities, which 
abound in ruins of the highest 
interest, consisting of ancient 
churches, some of the most 
magnificent sculptured crosses 
in Ireland, a round tower, and 
an ancient octagon church, or baptistry, similar to the Temple 
Church in London.* 

Our pilgrimage is now nearly at an end. There is little 
further worthy of remark. Below Drogheda the Boyne spreads 
out into a broad estuary, which is shortly to be crossed by a 
bridge connecting the Dublin and Belfast Eailways. As we sail 
down the river, several pleasingly situated villas range along 
the northern bank, and the fine old mansion-house ofBeaulieu 
or Bewley particularly attracts attention. Upon the right or 




* By passing up King William's Glen, opposite the Obelisk at Oldbridge, 
the tourist can with great ease first visit Mellifont, then proceed to Monaster- 
boice, and after that return to Drogheda. 



THE MAIDEN TOWER. 



263 



southern bank is Mornington, one of the earliest seats of the 
Wellesleys, and Colpe, the site of an ancient church, built, it 
is said, over the spot where the brother of Milesius was buried. 
Upon this southern shore of the Boyne's mouth stands an an- 
cient square tower about eighty feet high, which has always 
been known by the name of the Maiden Tower; and at a little 




distance from it inland is placed a small pillar of solid masonry, 
called The Finger. They are evidently landmarks, erected 
before light-houses were employed in this country. The tower, 
which is at least three hundred years old, may also have been 
originally used as a look-out station, for which purpose it is 
admirably adapted. There is a winding staircase in the centre, 
and the top, which is nagged, is reached by a small aperture, 
which could easily be covered with a large stone, so that it 
might, in case of siege, be rendered inaccessible from within. 
There are many " old stories" related about this tower, — tales 
of love, of maiden faith and knightly honour, and, in latter 
days, of mystery also. Tradition says it was erected by a fair 
lady, to watch the return of her betrothed from a far-distant 
country, whither he was obliged to journey upon the eve of 
their nuptials. It was agreed beforehand that, if the lover re- 
turned successful, he should hoist a milk-white banner ; but if 
the contrary, a red nag should float from his mast-head. The 
preconcerted signal was forgotten, and the knight, seeing the 
tower, — which his true love had erected during his absence to 



264 THE MAIDEN TOWER. 

watch his return, — and mistaking it for the watch-tower of an 
enemy and an invader, instantly displayed the blood-red flag, 
whereon the disconsolate maiden precipitated herself from the 
top of the tower, and was dashed to atoms. Not many years 
ago a poor half-witted female recluse took up her abode on 
the top of the tower, and was, like the hermits of old, supplied 
with every necessary by the surrounding peasantry. It has 
been conjectured that the tower was erected during the reign 
of Elizabeth, and took its name from the Maiden Queen. 



INDEX 



Achadh Aldai rifled by the Danes in 862, 202 ; supposed to be identical with 
New Grange, 203. 

Achill, remarkable preservation of primitive habits and manners in, 89, note. 

Ancient and modern remains connected, 105. 

Antiquities of the Boyne, general reference to the, 3 ; their variety, 6 ; their 
abundance, 9 ; Celtic relics and animal remains, 9. 

Architecture, progress and transitions of, in Ireland, 73 ; its advanced condi- 
tion before the English invasion, 87, 88. 

Ardmulchan church ruins, 165, 166 ; military fort, 166. 

Ardsallagh, 111, 128. 

Assey castle and church ruins, 117. 

Athlumney Castle, 131, 132 ; its destruction by fire, 132, 133; church, 132. 

Ath Truim, the ancient name of Trim, 81. 

Babe's bridge, 164. 

Ballad, a new, on the battle of the Boyne, 255. 

Ballybogan, ruins of the church of, 51 ; some historical notices of the priory 

of, 52 ; inventory of the possessions of the Prior at the Keformation, 53. 
Balsoon, 111 ; ruined church, 117. 
Banqueting-hall of Tara, the, 122. 
Beauparc, 172. 
Bective Abbey, 107, 108; the alleged burial-place of Hugh de Lacy, 110; 

cloisters of, 111; annals of, 109, 111. 
Bective-bridge, 107; demesne, 111. 
Bellinter, 111, 118; bridge, 118. 
Bermingham family, 35, 36 ; remains of their castles, — Carbury, 30 ; Mylers- 

town, 33 ; Kinnafad, 37 ; Carrick Oris, 43 ; war occasioned by an insult 

to, called the war of " Cainiin," 36. 
Bermingham, Pierce, his massacre of the O'Conors, 44. 
Bewley, 262. 
Blackcastle, 159. 

Blackwater, the, general view, 136 ; origin of the name, 137. 
Bloomsbury Bridge, 1 54. 
Boan and Dabella, legend of, 24, 25. 
Bolg-Boinne, the battle of, 75. 
Book of Kells, 149. 



266 INDEX. 

Boyne, the, peculiar character of its beauty, 1, 2 ; its important historical as- 
sociations, 3, 4 ; archaeological remains, 6, 7, 8 ; attractions at different 
seasons, 10, 11 ; the great river of Meath, 11 ; geographical description of, 
21 ; general view of its course, 21, 22 ; origin and derivation of its name, 
23, 24 ; legend of Boan and Dabella, 24, 25 ; portion from Clonard to 
Trim, 76-102 ; from Trim to Navan, 103-135 ; Navan to Slane, 159-183 ; 
in Louth, 241 ; its mouth, 262, 263. 

Boyne, battle of the, the battle-field, 242, 243 ; position of James's army, 
244 ; of William's, 245 ; King William wounded, Story's account, 246 ; ac- 
count from the Duke of Berwick's Memoirs, 247 ; materials for a more im- 
partial account of the battle, 248 ; numbers of the contending armies, 249 ; 
disadvantages of James, 250 ; battle of Rossnaree, 250, 251 ; passage of 
Oldbridge, 251 ; the retreat to Duleek, 252 ; some consequences of the bat- 
tle, 253; death of Schomberg, 254. 

Boyne Water, the,— the old ballad retouched, 255. 

Brechin, round tower of, 162. 

Broad Boyne Bridge, 169, 171. 

Brugh-na-Boinne, 171; royal cemetery, 184-187; its true locality, 188. 

Burial, various forms of among the ancient Irish ; — the cairn or pyramid, 224 ; 
the cromlech, 228 ; the kistvaen, 231 ; the urn, 232 ; mixed forms at Kil- 
bride, 234 ; at Portaferry, 234, 235. 

Butler, Dean, his laudable efforts to preserve the remains of antiquity at 
Trim, 80. 



Cannistown, or Cannonstown church, 129. 

Carbury castle, description of, 27, 28 ; history of, 30, 31. 

Carbury, or Carbery hill, 27, 28, 29 ; ancient remains on, 29 ; other localities 
of the same name, 29 ; its celebrity in ancient Irish history, 29, 30 ; exten- 
sive view from the summit of, 32. 

Carrick, hill of, 41, 42 ; rich prospect from the summit of, 42 ; a place of note 
in ancient times, 42 ; castle and church ruins, 43 ; superstitions connected 
with the locality, 45. 

Carvings at the mound of New Grange, 192, 193, 197-200. 

Castles, ancient: — Carbury, 30 ; Kinnafad, 37 ; Clonmore, 41 ; Grange, 41 ; 
Carrick- Oris, 43; Ticroghan, 75; Trimblestown, 78; Trim, 94 ; Nangle's 
and Talbot's, 96 ; Scurlogstown, 104; Trubly, 106; Assey, 117; Rivers- 
town, 118; Liscarton, 156; Dexter, 173; Dowth, 210; Proudfootstown, 
242. 

Castles built in Ireland antecedent to the English invasion, 88. 

Castle Dexter, 173. 

Celts, who are the? 217. 

Cemeteries, royal, in Ireland, 184. 

Clady, Pagan and Christian remains at, 112-115; the church, 112; font, 
113 ; ancient stone foot-bridge, 113 ; subterranean chambers, 114, 115. 

Cletty, the house of, 116. 

Cloghlea, stone circle, 211. 

Clonard, roads to, 54; description of the scenery, 55 ; battle of, in 1798, 56, 
57 ; its early importance as a bishop's see and seat of learning, 58, 59 ; ec- 
clesiastical annals, 60-63 ; remains in 1786, now obliterated, 63, 65 ; ancient 



INDEX. 267 

font of, 64 ; ancient lavatory of, 65 ; ancient stoup belonging to, 67 ; Pagan 

remains of, 68-70 ; the moat, 68 ; military rath, 69. 
Clonmore, ruined castle of, 41. 
Colpe, 263. 

Columbkill, St., his "house" atKells, 144, 145. 
Cormac Mac Art, death of, 116; interment of, 187. 
Cromwell's Irish campaign, a good history of, wanted, 105. 
Crypts, ancient, 115. 

Curragh of wicker and horse-hide at Slane, 183. 
Cusack, Michael, 158. 

Dagobert, King, 181, 182. 

Dangan, 96. 

Danish origin of ancient Irish monuments once a prevailing opinion, 70. 

Dathi, sepulchre of, 186. 

Dearvorgail, the elopement of, 18 ; her death, 19. 

De Lacy, Hugh, builds the castle of Trim, 90 ; true account of his death, 91, 
92 ; "his burial, 93, 110 ; and character, 93. 

Derrinydaly bridge, 78. 

Dexter, Castle, 157, 158. 

Dillon monument at Newtowntrim, 100 ; Dillon family, 100, 101. 

Domhnall, King, his banquet, and its disastrous consequences, 176-178, 

Donaghmore church and tower, 159-163. 

Donaghpatrick, ancient church of St. Patrick, 155; fine specimen of a military 
rath at, 155. 

Donore, remains of the church and friary of, 77 ; castle, 77; hill, position, and 
bearings of, 243. 

Dowdall, Sir Lancelot, last lord of Athlumney, heroism of, 132, 133. 

Dowdstown, 111. 

Dowth castle and church, 210. 

Dowth, or Dubhadh, mound of, 204 ; plundered by the Danes, 202, 205 ; re- 
cent examination of, 205 ; interior chamber, 206 ; carvings, 207 ; antiqui- 
ties found, 209. 

Drogheda, 259; its annals, 259; its walls, 259,260; St. Laurence's Gate, 
259 ; West Gate, 260 ; St. Mary's abbey, 261 ; Magdalen steeple, 262. 

Duleek, 262. 

Dumha-na-nGiall, 124. 

Dunamase, skull found at, 232. 

Dunmoe castle, 166, 167. 

Dun na n-Gedh, story of the banquet of, 176 ; fort of, 211. 

Dunshaughiin antiquities, 127. 

Ecclesiastical structures, modern, want of taste displayed in, 73. 
Edenderry, 34. 

English invasion of Ireland, 17. 

English Pale, origin of the, 19 ; its extent and boundary, 20 ; ancient Act re- 
lative to, 20, 21. 
Erc's goose eggs, story of, 176. 
Ere, St., hermitage of, 175. 



268 INDEX. 

Eschricht, Professor, inquiries by, respecting the races of men whose remains 

are found in ancient Scandinavian burying places, 225. 
Ethnological inquiries, difficulties attending, 214-216. 
Ethnology and the means of studying it: — architecture, 212 ; philosophy, 212; 

history, 213 ; ethnography, 214. 

Farm, demesne of, 243. 

Fennor rock, 1.73 ; church and castle ruins, 178. 

Finger, the, 263. 

Finian, St., first bishop of Clonard, 58 ; some account of, 59, 60 ; his bap- 
tism, 60. 

Finn Mac Cumhaill, or Fin-ma- Cool, death of, 116. 

Firbolgs, the, 218. 

Font of the church of Clonard, 64; of Clady, 112, 113; of Kilcarn, 130, 
131. 

Forradh, the, 124. 

Fothadh Airgthech, burial-place of, 187. 

Geneville, or Joinville, Geoffrey de, 85. 
Gibbstown, 157. 
Grange Castle, 41. 
Grove Island, 243. 

Headfort demesne, 143. 

History of Ireland yet to be written, 5,6; pleasing evidence of the interest 
now taken in it, 5. 

Holy Wells:— Trinity, 24; Holy Cross, 45 ; Beautiful Well, 46 ; Lady Well, 
46 ; St. Bridget's, 128 ; St. Kieran's, 141 ; Tober Ruadh, 163 ; Tober 
Padraig, 170 ; Tober Patrick, 183 ; scenery and legends of, 46, 47 ; a his- 
tory of them wanted, 47, 48 : indication of materials of such a work, 49 ; 
lines on the Irish people's veneration for, 50. 

Human bodies found in bogs, 237. 

Inchmore Bridge, 77. 

Irishmen who have distinguished themselves in foreign military service, 32, 
33, note. 

John, King, visits Ireland, 93. 

Kells, 143; St. Columbkille's home, 144, 145; round tower, 146; inscrip- 
tion on the church tower, 147 ; crosses, 147 ; great cross, 148 ; annals of, 
149 ; book of, 149. 

Kieran, St., ancient church and crosses of, 138 ; ludicrous tradition regard- 
ing the latter, 139 ; refuted by authentic history, 140 ; holy well of, 141, 
142 ; bleeding of the ash-tree, 142. 

Kilcarn, 129 ; church ruins, 129; ancient font, 130, 131. 

King William's Glen, 244. 

Kinnafad, 37; castle of, 37; account of some ancient weapons found near, 
38, 39. 



INDEX. 269 

Knock-a-Paymon, 163. 
Knocklea, tumulus of, 224. 
Knockmaroon, tumulus at, 228, 229. 
Knockminaune, or Kids' Hill, 163. 
Knowth, mound of, 189. 

Lady Well, 178. 

Laracor, the early residence of Dean Swift, 96. 

Lavatory, ancient, belonging to Clonard, 65. 

Lecan, Book of, 185. 

Leinster Bridge, 55. 

Lia-Fail, or Stone of Destiny, 124, 125. 

Liscarton castle and church ruins, 156, 157. 

Lloyd, Hill of, 142. 

Loman, St., 83 ; his foundation of the see of Trim, 83, 84. 

Mac Murrough, Dermot, King of Leinster, the seducer of Dearvorgail, 17, 18. 
Maiden tower, the, 263. 

Malachy I. defeats a band of outlaws on an island in Lough Eamor, 138. 
Meath, or Midhe, ancient kingdom of, the earliest cultivated part of Ireland, 4 ; 

described, 11 ; early history, 12 ; and extent, 13 ; its four royal palaces, 13; 

Giraldus Cambrensis' account of, 13, 14 ; its present fertility, 15 ; manners 

and characteristics of the peasantry, 16 ; diocesan school, 96. 
Mellifont, 262. 
Milesians, the, 223. 
Molyneux, Sir Thomas, his investigations into the circumstances of ancient 

human remains, 224. 
Monasterboice, 262. 

Monasteroris, ecclesiastical ruins of, 35 ; origin of the name, 35, 36. 
Mornington, 262. 
Moy Turey, battle of, 222. 

Muircheartaigh Mac Earca, death of, at Cletty, 117. 
Mule's leap, the, 43. 
Mylerstown castle, 33. 

Nangles, castle of the, at Trim, 96. 

Navan, 133, 134 ; extensive souterrain discovered near, 135 ; moat of, 157. 

Neamhnach, well of, 125. 

Nevinstown, wayside cross of, 157, 158. 

New Grange, mound of, 189 ; pillar-stones round it, 190 ; Llhwyd's descrip- 
tion of it in 1699, 191-193 ; carved stones at the entrance, 192, 193 ; 
passage, 194; interior chamber, 195, 196; its analogy to the ancient re- 
mains of other countries, 196, 197; carvings in the interior, 197-200; 
basins found in, 201. 

Newhaggard, 78. 

Newpark demesne, 103. 

Newtown- Trim, monastic remains of, 98 ; monastery and cathedral of St. Peter 
and St. Paul, 99 ; priory of St. John the Baptist, 102 ; destruction of the 
remains, 101. 



270 INDEX. 

O'Conor, Murtagh, King of Offaly, and his companions, massacred by Comiu 

and Mac Feorais, 44. 
Oldbridge battle-field, 242 ; site of the village of, 243. 
Ordnance Survey of Ireland, its value in topographical questions, 29, note. 

Patron festivals at holy wells, 46, 47, 48. 
Peppard, or Pipard, Richard, rebuilder of Trim castle, 94. 
Pillar-stones around New Grange, 190, 210. 
Proudfootstown castle, 242. 

Races, two, of the ancient Irish, distinguished by the form of their heads, 41, 
239; modern instances of the same distinction, 231; skulls of the long- 
headed race, 229, 230 ; of the globular-headed race, 231, 232. 

Ramor, Lough, the source of the Blackwater, 137, 138. 

Rath Caelchon on Tara Hill, 123 ; Rath Grainne, 123 ; Rath-na-Seanaclh, or 
King's chair, 123 ; Rath-na-Riogh, 124 ; Rath of Laoghaire, 125 ; Rath 
of Queen Meve, 125. 

Raths, or military forts, 54, 69, 103, 112, 138, 155, 166, 169, 170, 211. 

Rathaldron castle, 157. 

Rathcore, the battle-field of, 74. 

Rathmore, old church of, 147, note. 

Rathnally, 105. 

Retzius, Professor A., researches regarding the races whose remains are found 
in ancient Scandinavian sepulchral monuments, 225. 

Riverstown castle, 118. 

Rochfort, Simon de, Bishop of Meath, 62, 98. 

Roristown, 98. 

Rossnaree, or Ros-na-righ, 187. 

Round Tower of Kells, 146; of Donaghmore, 161, 162. 

Round Towers, general results of Dr. Petrie's investigations respecting, 146. 

Royal visits to Ireland, 93. 

Saxon not the correct designation of the colonists of Ireland at the English 
invasion, 89. 

Saxons chiefly introduced by Cromwell, 90. 

Scandanavian sepulchral monuments, 225-228. 

Scariff bridge, 77. 

Scurlogstown, 103; church remains, 103 ; castle, 104. 

Senchas-na-Relec, 184, 185. 

Sepulchres of Irish kings, 186. 

Skulls, ancient, found near Kinnafad, described, 40 ; belonging to two distinct 
races, 41 ; two distinct forms of, found also in Scandinavian sepulchres, 
226-228 ; skulls of the long-headed race, 229, 230 ; of the globular-headed 
race, 231, 232; one found beneath the round tower of Drumbo, 226; of 
Donatus, first Danish Archbishop of Dublin, 237. 

Slane, view from the hill of, with its associations, 179, 180 ; St. Patrick's ar- 
rival at, 180 ; destruction of the cloictheach or round tower of, 181 ; ancient 
tomb, 182 ; ruins of the church and monastery of, 183. 

Slane castle, 174. 



INDEX. 27 1 

Sources of the author's information, 23. 

Spoliation of ancient monuments, instances of, 65, 66, 101. 

Square forts, 138. 

St. Bernard's well, 210. 

St. Bridget's holy well, 128. 

St. Patrick's staff burned, 53 ; his arrival at Slane, 180. 

St. Patrick's hymn, 126. 

St. Patrick and King Loeghaire, 153, 154. 

Stackallan, 169. 

Stella's cottage, 97. 

Stony ford bridge, 76. 

Stoup, ancient, belonging to Clonard, 67. 

Talbot, Sir John, builder of the Talbots' castle at Trim, 96. 

Tara, recollections of, 119, 120; how to see, 121 ; brief notice of the chief 

objects of interest at, 122-126. 
Teach Cormaic, or House of Cormac, 124. 
Teltown, or Tailtean, 149 ; sports and marriages of, 150, 151, 152 ; great 

fort of, 152; stories of St. Patrick connected with, 153, 154 ; ruins of the 

church of, 154. 
Templar, skeleton of a, found at Larne, 237. 
Termonfecken, 262. 
Ticroghan, ancient fortress of, 75. 
Tober-crogh-neeve, or Well of the Holy Cross, 45, 53. 
Tober Padraig, or St. Patrick's Well, 170. 
Tober Patrick, 183. 
Tober Ruadh, 163. 
Tomb-openers, advice to, 240. 
Townley Hall, 242, 243. 
Trim, 79 ; fine tableaux of ruins, 80 ; statistics of, 81 ; its early ecclesiastical 

history, 82 ; St. Mary's Abbey, 83 ; Yellow Steeple, 84 ; monastic annals, 

85 ; grey friary, 85 ; black friary, 85 ; nunnery, 87 ; Greek church, 87 ; 

military buildings, 87 ; castles, 90, 94. 
Trimblestown castle, 78. 
Trinity Well and its legend, 24. 
Trubly, 106 ; remains of the castle of, 106. 
Tuatha de Danaan, 219; their religion, physical character, and arts, 220- 

222. 
Tumuli, ancient, 68, 77, 97, 103, 132, 163, 188, 204, 224. 
Tyrrell, Lieut., his gallant defence against a superior force in 1798, 56, 57. 

Urns, ancient, found in Ireland, 232. 

Virginia, 138. 

Weapons, ancient, found near Kinnafad, described, 38, 39 ; conjectures as to 

the races who used them, 40. 
Well of the Holy Cross, 45. 
Wells, holy. See Holy Wells. 
Wellesley family, pedigree of, 31, 32, note. 



272 INDEX. 

Wellington, Duke of, his birth-place, 95 ; his early days in connexion with 

Trim, 96. 
Witch's Stone, the, on the Hill of Carrick, 42. 

Yellow Island, 243. 

Yellow River, 41. 

Yellow Steeple, Trim, 83, 84. 



THE END. 



Dublin : Printed at the University Press, by M. H. Gill. 




U I N' G S C 



